


Sensory Love

by orphan_account



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: I’m not going to type them all out but the gangs all here, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-03
Updated: 2020-04-02
Packaged: 2021-02-28 20:20:45
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 41
Words: 226,815
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23453137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Nico never allowed himself to touch, only to be touched, it was better that way. Percy/Nico
Relationships: Nico di Angelo/Percy Jackson
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is rated 'M' for a reason, I don't make light of the rating system, and it gets progressively more mature as these go on.
> 
> Originally from Hitome-Chan on Fanfiction.net

Feelings can be corporeal and intangible at the same time, love especially. To feel love one must use all of his or her senses completely. Sight, smell, taste, hearing and touch, especially. Without any of these fueling your emotions how can you call what you have love? Your heart beats faster when you see and catch the scent of your desired beloved, a lull of calmness washes over you from the sound of their voice, your lips aflame as you taste their mouth, and your body not far behind wrapped around them, skin on skin making life so much sweeter.

When denied these things, when every facet of your being is rejected, it can cause the most primal of emotions, which is where Nico found himself. Depressed and rejected. Not on purpose mind you, Percy Jackson was just incredibly ignorant. Percy also had his on-again-off again girlfriend Annabeth to keep him blissfully oblivious. Annabeth was a perceptive girl, she knew of Nico's affections, but she didn't acknowledge them, which, in her mind, was as good as if they did not exist. But, Nico didn't hold that against her, he knew she knew, and she knew that he knew she knew, and as confusing as it all seemed they were still friends. It, of course, wasn't anything personal, matters of the heart never are.

The problem with it all being: Percy was his best friend. One of his only real friends. Which is why it was difficult falling in love with him. In love with his smell, with his voice, with the very essence that was Percy Jackson. The way his nose wrinkled when he smiled, or how his eyes always teared up when he laughed. Nico loved everything about Percy, how he could be unintentionally annoying, and how there were times that Nico just couldn't stand to be in the same room as him, those were the times he loved him still.

To be truthful, Nico did more than love Percy Jackson, his heart craved Percy's affections. He wanted to Percy's constant thought, his sole source of camaraderie, the only one who would love Percy like a lover, and not a friend. Nico sat back against his bed in the small two bedroom apartment he shared with his father, both his mother and his sister passed away quite a few years ago in a car crash. Nico couldn't help but to think of how many holes there were in his heart with them gone and with his not-so-new feelings, he couldn't love anyone without feeling some sort of pain. Every time he considered a relationship with someone, _every time_ , there were complications. You can't just _fall_ in love, not alone at least. But Nico fell in love all by himself and it was beginning to wear on him, as these things typically do. At first it isn't so bad, being lonely in love, and you can smile—but in his solitude Nico couldn't help but almost cry every day. He didn't though, his father had taught him to stronger than that, but sometimes, sometimes it was almost too much.

There was a knock on his door, three sharp taps and Nico knew it was his father. He straightened his face, fell into a mask of indeterminable emotion and wiped his eyes. "S'open." He called, his father hated weakness, he hated the thought of ever being weak and Nico knew that if that man knew what he was feeling he would be as good as disowned. Not that he and his father really hung out much, but they got along in some ways.

Nico's Dad, affectionately called Hades by just about everyone (even his boss), was a man with a slim and handsome face, he had impossibly dark eyes and loosely curled black hair like Nico's, only longer. His smiles were things of legend, and Nico was hardly sure if there was ever one on his face that didn't denote sarcasm or biting remarks, and yet he was the only person Nico truly got along with—well besides…

"Your friend's here." Hades said, staring down at Nico from his very tall vantage point. "Princeton."

"Percy, Dad." Nico corrected.

"Whatever," He stepped out of the way and Percy stepped into the room, smiling sheepishly. Hades creeped him out and Nico knew it, he scared Percy enough that the young man would only come over if he hadn't seen Nico in a few weeks time. "Dinner'll be ready in a few," Hades called closing the door behind him.

"Hey, man," Percy said in that tangible and friendly way he always did and Nico felt a strain against his eyes to examine every mole and freckle on Percy's beautiful face, to study the lines and details in his lips, and to wonder how such a pink color could exist. But he just sat down on his bed.

"Hey," Nico returned outwardly calm. If ever there was something he picked up from his father it was the way to carry himself, to make it seem like nothing was wrong. That's how they got through his mother and his sister's deaths, and that is how he was going to get over Percy Jackson.

"What have you been up to Nico?" Percy asked, jumping on the other side of bed and sinking into it, he always had a thing for sleeping in Nico's bed, and who was Nico to tell him not to? Especially if it meant Nico could sleep beside him. "I haven't hung out with you outside of school in forever."

How could he say it? How could he say, _"I'm in love with you, dumbass. But if I tell you you'll just run away and never want to talk to me again?"_ without bursting out into tears and shaking and sobbing uncontrollably? There was no way, so he said, "Nothing, really. I've just been hanging out at home." Which was true, but he'd been avoiding Percy. It was easier if he just didn't see him, if he couldn't smell him, if he couldn't feel that heat radiating off of him, or hear those hilariously adorable snores emitting from him, it was just easier if he didn't have to wonder what flavor his lips were. But the scent of Percy wafted over to him as the young man resettled on the bed, feet facing the headboard and his head at the foot of the bed where Nico sat.

"That's boring. Annabeth and I hardly ever see you man," Nico didn't let that bother him, Annabeth was Percy's girl, of course he would include her.

"Wanna play Black Ops?" Nico asked suddenly trying to distract him, he needed something mindless, something loud, something to occupy that part of Percy's brain that allowed him to ask questions and to say things that Nico would regret.

"Sure," Percy said and he smiled widely. "I hear it's good,"

"Yeah," Nico agreed and popped in the disc. He didn't have a lot of things, but his PS3 had been a surprise Christmas/Birthday/hope-this-tides-you-over-till-a-couple-years-from-now gift from his Dad and he was thankful for it, his TV wasn't too terribly small so it did in a pinch to distract Percy. Which is what Nico used it for mostly, occasionally he would get the urge to use his console, but he found himself reading more often than naught.

So he sat there, his knee slightly touching Percy's side, and he was very aware of it. The heat from that one connecting spot seemed to radiate from his brunet friend to his entire body, he barely noticed the killing, instead watching out of his peripherals. Percy's glorious tangle of almond brown curls, his coffee colored eyes moving back and forth from watching the screen, he had a long Mediterranean face, but then again so did Nico, which was dusted in freckles. Then his eyes would travel further down to his back, which was slightly defined, and the supple curve of his backside that Nico knew if he reached out and grabbed would feel like warm steel. But he was a teenager, both of them seventeen (Nico just newly turned), so sex was a topic that seemed to stay on his mind. He got…urges, ones which he ignored for the most part. Like reaching out and grabbing a handful of Percy's ass, that was a no-no. But Percy was allowed to throw an arm over Nico's knee and use his leg as a pillow, that was fine. Nico knew from experience that sometimes he took his own touch a little too far. Like, say, if he was leaning against Percy his head might gradually find its way into the nook between the older teen's arm and chest, where he would receive a quizzical stare from Percy, who would laugh and push Nico away.

He suffered through the minutest of touches and as protocol dictated kept his erection at a minimum simply through sheer force of will, a most difficult thing for any man to do, let alone one as inexperienced as Nico. An hour passed and the talking was kept brief, a few comfortable words between best friends, but the silence was mostly welcomed, Nico never had anything to talk about either way, but Percy could go on for hours about nothing.

"Oh, did I tell you, I got my fuel injector replaced, just in time to, my old one was on its last leg," Percy said through a mouthful of cookies that Nico had brought in the room for him, for Percy specifically, Nico hardly ever partook, just watching the brunet eat was enough to keep him tided over till dinner was done.

"Oh, yeah?" Nico wondered, not interested really, but Percy hardly ever noticed that lack of enthusiasm in his voice, or if he did he pretended he didn't. Percy went on about his car, he fancied himself a mechanic sometimes, which was a silver '00 Sonata that Percy's mother and her husband Paul had bought for him when he turned sixteen. Nico just listened on without ever really hearing a word Percy was saying, he tended to zone out when Percy went into report mode.

"You listening?" Nico blinked.

"What?"

Then the brunet laughed. "You were so gone, I asked if you wanted to play two players?"

"I—er—yeah, sure." He got up and got another controller, and they began co-op, killing terrorists and other bad men right and left and a small part of Nico wondered what it would be like playing from the other side, both believed that what they were fighting for was the most just cause, so who was to say he was the hero in this story? But then he saw Percy's lips were moving and he had to turn his brain back on. "Sorry, what?"

Again Percy laughed, and it was like nectar for the soul, Nico felt himself growing hotter. "God, I love you man, but you have got to start listening." Percy smiled, and Nico felt a pang of loneliness stab at him, no matter how close his unrequited was he was always so very far away, Nico couldn't reach out and touch and expect a good response, couldn't say how he felt because he knew it would blow up in his face. "I said whatever your Dad is cooking it smells good."

Nico sniffed the air, sure enough he could smell garlic rolls and pasta, a home favorite. "Yeah, he's a good cook." He relented.

"How come you don't cook more?" Nico wondered how best he should answer that, he _could_ in fact cook, as long as it had a recipe, but he couldn't do it from memory like his Dad. He had, in fact made, food for himself and the guy leaning against him, but it had been just simple eggs and bacon and toast.

"Dad does it better," Nico decided. "I cook if he's not up to it, sometimes he comes home from work and just doesn't want to do anything but eat, shower, and go to bed." Nico laughed as Percy shivered, Hades worked in a morgue—well, he owned a funeral home actually, but when there wasn't a lot to take care of there he worked in a few morgues. Hence the nickname. It had always been sort of an added creep-o factoid that made Percy unease around him. Nico put his hand on Percy's arm absently, but pulled away instead and grabbed his controller again, resuming the massacre. After a long while of silence Nico realized he wasn't being much of a host. The entire time Percy had been there he hadn't made the conscious effort to talk to him, it came with being alone all the time though, you get used to not having to be courteous towards others. "How are things with you and Annabeth?" He asked as he zip-lined down a mountain, time slowing down on the screen and allowing him to shoot several of his enemies all at once. Percy didn't answer, which caused Nico to look over at him. "Perce?"

"We're…not doing the best," Percy finally said and Nico's heart fluttered. Percy and Annabeth, the universe's star couple were 'not doing the best?' It was something that Nico knew he couldn't be outwardly happy about, he held his indecipherable expression up, if only just by a fraction.

"Why's that?" He asked, sounding concerned and he wanted to put a comforting hand on Percy's shoulder but they were already so close, if he was tempted anymore he wasn't sure he'd be able to control himself.

"We—just a stupid fight. It's our last year going to high school and she wants to go to some dumb school all the way in California—" He sighed, then he looked up "not that there's anything wrong with California," he added. California was Nico's home state, they'd moved out to New York for his mom's family, but her parents had passed away a long time ago now. "And I don't want her to go because she'll be so far away and there are plenty of schools here, right?" Nico nodded. "Right. It's just stupid! It's like she doesn't even want us to be together."

"I'm sure that's not the case," Nico said and turned his eyes down to Percy. He hated that when Percy looked at him he never really _saw_ him, but then again no one ever truly saw him because he didn't let them, but Percy was supposed to be his best friend, he was supposed to want to console Nico, even if the moody teen never really wanted to talk about it, it would have been nice if he tried.

"Yeah, I hope. Anyway," Percy continued. "It's just a dumb argument, I hope she texts me later or something. If I text her she just gets mad at me all over again, but if I don't she tells me I should have texted her."

"Girls." Nico laughed ironically, an odd mirth to just that one word, and the smile that tugged at his lips was out of place, but it looked nice, no matter how snarky. Percy didn't hear the sarcasm though, he never heard the sarcasm unless Nico's words were drowning in it.

"Right?" He asked and killed another enemy. "Speaking of girls, I hear Rachel Elizabeth Dare is into you, you should talk to her." He sat up and immediately Nico missed the warmth of Percy's head on his leg. "She's hot."

"I suppose she is," Nico didn't turn to look at the brunet, instead he kept advancing in the level. "Not really my type though."

"Type?" Percy laughed. "Man, she's so cute, it, like, breaks all type molds."

Nico raised an eyebrow. "How would Annabeth feel about hearing you say that?" He said with a chuckle and immediately Percy's face burned red.

"That's beside the point, Nico," He said, flustered. "Where's your phone? I'm texting Rachel."

"Percy!" Nico jumped when Percy tackled him to the bed, his deft fingers feeling around inside of Nico's pockets and causing the raven haired young man to squirm around beneath him. Now, Nico liked his room. It was a dark burgundy color with very low lighting and black curtains to block out too much sun from coming in, his walls were lined in posters of bands like Alice in Chains, Behemoth, Pantera, Trivium, System of a Down, and Slipknot and tons more and there were a bunch of sci-fi novels lining his shelves. He had a kick-ass lava lamp that sat on the floor and threw colors all around, there was a single ceiling fan because it tended to get stuffy, and his bed—which was a full—was covered in pillows, but there was one drawback to his room.

It was had incredibly thin walls, and Nico had one weakness—he was horribly ticklish. So when Percy began searching his person Nico became a fit of uncharacteristic giggles, of course, Percy knew about this particular weakness and used it to his advantage in search of the phone. One hand running up his bony side while the other restrained his arms, and the brunet was grinning down evilly all the while, chuckling at Nico's uncontrollable laughter. Nico had two problems, one: he was hating how his self control was waning, and two: his door had just swung open. His father stood there, staring down at the scene with what Nico hoped was apathy, the mask was hard to read. He'd just walked in on his seventeen year old son being restrained and straddled _AND_ tickled by his best friend, admittedly it was a compromising position.

"Dinner's ready," Hades said. "Wash up." Then he turned and casually walked out of the room.

Percy crawled off of him, his face slightly flushed, and Nico threw a pillow at him. "Jackass." He said, then he pushed past Percy and walked to the bathroom. He hated being tickled, Percy also knew that.

"What?" The brunet said with a sly smile. "If you would've just given me your phone I wouldn't have had to take drastic measures." They walked to the bathroom and Nico washed his hands, Percy right behind him. "You know I'm spending the night?"

"D'jya call your mom this time?" Nico asked, Percy had a habit of spending nights over at his house without ever calling Sally, his mother.

"Ah I'm sure she knows where I am by now." Percy said with a brilliant smile and Nico flicked water on him.

"Call her," He said and walked past him just as he dug his phone out and dialed the number, he heard the greeting and shook his head. Nico walked into the living room which was pretty standard, couch, loveseat, television, coffee table, and into the kitchen. His Dad was sitting at the table, a plate of niciose salad in front of him with a small amount of Italian dressing dusting the green, green leaves, there was a bowl of salmon and spinach fettuccine on the table, seated next to another bowl of buttery garlic rolls.

"Son," He said when he saw Percy wasn't behind him. "we have to talk." Nico sighed, he figured this would happen.

"What's up?"

"First off, that's a horrible way to find out news and is a lazy way of speaking," Hades said, well, his real name was Thomas, but that was much too formal, and Hades suited him so much better than Tom, or Tommy—he was built like a Greek god, he had the dark hair and eyes, he even called the mortuary he worked at the Underworld, but that was a joke between himself and his son.

"Sorry," Nico said.

"It's about Percy," Hades continued. "Is he—are you two in a relationship?" Nico's face burned and he took a seat next to his Dad at the table, the man had set the table as always with an extra space for Percy.

"No Dad," He said. "we're most definitely not."

"But you like…boys, don't you?" He asked and Nico looked into his father's face, he was a handsome man, his skin was the same color as papyrus paper, and his rugged salt-and-pepper beard felt like bristles. His onyx colored eyes were soft and filled with anxiety, the anxiety of wondering how he was going to keep his bills paid, how he was going to keep food—healthy food—on the table, how he was going to send his son to college, and then on top of all that, worry that his son might be homosexual.

"Do you really want to have this conversation yet?" Nico asked, turning away from those dark eyes that looked exactly like his. "Just wait for Percy to go home and we'll talk."

"So you two aren't—"

"No, Dad." Nico said for the second time. "And we never will be." Then his father did something he didn't suspect, he put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed it.

"Don't beat yourself up about it, kid." He said and offered him a very small smile, which Nico returned to the best of his ability.

"I called her," Percy said emerging into the kitchen with damp hands. "Happy, Nico?"

"Very," Nico said, forcing a chuckle and avoiding his father's weighty glance, instead piling some salad onto a plate and handing it to Percy, then some onto a saucer of his own. "Looks good, Dad."

"Yeah," Percy smiled, digging into the salad. "I love your cooking Mr. di Angelo." Hades smiled offhandedly at that for a minute.

"Thank you, Percival," He said, oh he knew Percy's name, but he just didn't care to ever say it.

"Actually its short for Perseus." Percy said. "Dad named me"

"Mm." Hades replied, but his mood wasn't because he was mean or irritable, well he was irritable, but that wasn't the case at this moment. His son, _his_ son very obviously had an infatuation with Percy Jackson, and though he wouldn't meddle in his offspring's affairs it didn't mean he had to be happy about it. "You know," He said. "There was a boy your age in the morgue today,"

"Oh?" Nico asked. "Why? School project? You didn't freak him out did you Dad?"

"Does that sound like me?" Hades asked. "No, no. He was there much the same reason all the bodies come through—he was dead." Suddenly the sound of silverware hitting a plate was in the air, Percy looked green.

"Dad," Nico said. "You know he hates stuff like that."

"Sorry," Hades smiled. "I couldn't resist. I'm only kidding, he was there for a report," Dinner continued on much the same way, and eventually Percy was able to finish his salad, Nico took his plate and spooned fettuccine onto it. He wondered how Percy hadn't thought that there weren't many people's friends who would do stuff like this for them. "You want a drink?" he asked.

"Uh…got any Coke?" Nico stood up and went to their fridge and he brought out a canned Coca-Cola. He grabbed his dad one too and brought them back to the table. They finished eating not long after that and Percy helped him wash and put the dishes away, then they made their way back to Nico's room, where luckily the topic of girls wasn't brought back up. Instead they switched over to playing Resistance 2, both games Nico had borrowed from Percy, his Dad had been kind enough to supply him with a few sports games, and one racing one, but he wasn't very much into either.

They switched over to watching Family Guy soon after that—Percy had the seasons on DVD. "I remember when these used to be funnier," Nico laughed as Peter carried on in his childish manner all about the fictional town of Quaohog.

"Hey, season nine redeems the really bad episodes," Percy defended, he actually really enjoyed the series.

"You what cartoon is funny? The Simpsons." Nico continued. "Everything not done by Matt Groening is pretty dumb," But he smiled because he knew how Percy would react.

"Really? You wanna get into this again?" Percy asked, it wasn't the first time they'd had the argument.

"I'm just sayin—" But he was cut off midsentence by a pillow tagging him against the cheek. "Oh you did not." He said, standing up with the pillow in his hands. "You know you're dead now don't you?"

"Bring it on," Percy said and whipped his neck to the side, sending his hair out of his face. Thus a pillow fight ensued, and though it didn't last long Nico loved every second of it. Percy had changed into a pair of his Nico's gym shorts that revealed his pale, thinly haired legs and one of his bigger shirts, but Nico didn't have time to worry about the distractions as he ducked another swing and landed a blow of his own. His Dad knocked on the door once. "Keep it down," He said poking his head in the room, so they went back to watching TV, and when that got boring Nico popped in their favorite movie, _The Dark Knight_ , then, lights off, they watched the movie in its entirety. It was great, as always, but Nico couldn't stop his heart from pounding in his chest as Percy leaned against him, it should have been illegal for someone to have such a hold over him, and he couldn't stop himself from situating his body such that it was easier for Percy to do so.

Truly, Percy didn't know he was doing these things to Nico, he didn't know about the young man's infatuation, he didn't know that his mere touch sent licks of flames down his spine, or that Nico wished for more than anything to just hold Percy's hand. He was just incredibly oblivious, and that's how he fell asleep as well, incredibly oblivious. Nico pulled the covers back and tucked Percy in and then he got up and turned off all his electronics, flipped the switch for his fan and crawled into bed right beside his best friend.

Percy was a hard sleeper. The hardest Nico knew, and yet anytime he tried to put an arm around the brunet boy's chest and curl up next to him Percy would wake up slightly, enough to move the arm, turn over in his sleep, and fall back into the dreaming world. It was frustrating. Nico hardly slept when Percy was over, he would sit there and contemplate all the things he _could_ do to the sleeping young man. The thought made him sick and his stomach clenched with loathing, but also with anxiety because it was always so tempting to reach across. Just once. He waited and Percy's light snores turned into a full fledged log sawing competition. Nico's heart beat hard, his entire body throbbed along with it in its quickened pace and adrenaline pumped through his veins. He moved his hand slowly, not that Percy was more than ten inches away from him, but it seemed like entire knots and clicks before he arrived at the side of the sleeping figure. He was thankful that Percy had borrowed the shorts to sleep in. Then, a wave of guilt rushed over Nico. It was _wrong_ to do this to his best friend, to violate his trust like this. But, it was wrong for him having to live with such heartbreak too, every single fucking day, and Nico was full of hormones and lust and urges and most of all love, a very thorny love—it had grown cold in his chest like ice from the years of unrequited pain—and that was soon the only thought he had as his hand ghosted over Percy's crotch.

He groped.

Nico's heart nearly leapt out of his chest from how quickly it was beating now, he could actually feel it in his fingertips and toes, but he couldn't stop. Slowly but surely he kneaded Percy to what he guessed was full mast, touching everything he could and vaguely thinking they were about the same size in length and girth, but Percy was cut differently than he was, as he suspected all cocks looked and felt different. His curiosity could have stemmed from the fact that Nico had never really had very many friends, let alone ones that were boys, so he missed the whole explorative age of childhood, and he was rounding the corner of the explorations of college men, for there seemed to be a lull in time when it was appropriate to explore such things: just out of toddlerhood and your college years. There weren't any real words to describe Nico's yielding elation, of course this was wrong, so wrong, but his loneliness outweighed his reason and his conscious. He could feel regret in his gut like a hot knife, but he was here now, he was doing this and there was no way he could stop, even if he wanted to. He only wished he could slip his hand underneath the elastic waistband of both the shorts and Percy's boxers, but he had no such luck as surely something like that—direct skin-to-skin contact—would awaken Percy.

He got his fill of his ministrations and pulled his hand back, finding that his arm's journey back to him was a lot quicker than its voyage out to Percy, who turned over in his sleep, and Nico sighed heavily. This was as close to ever being intimate with Percy as he was going to get. He scooted closer carefully across the bed and put an arm around Percy's waist tentatively. Then he fell asleep, feeling even hollower than before.

_Touch_.


	2. Chapter 2

Early the next morning Nico woke up uneasily. His arms, he realized, were wrapped around Percy—who was disentangling himself from Nico. The younger, shorter teen pretended to still be sleeping as Percy rolled him back over to his side own side of the bed, he even gave a light snore, smacked his lips and then grumbled, and thought he should be given some fort of prize for his acting. Percy walked out of the room, rubbing a hand through his coarse brown locks of hair and yawned sleepily.

The sound of urinating filled the hallway and entered into Nico's open room, the flushing of the toilet and not fifteen seconds later Percy came back in and plopped down in the bed, pulling sheets and comforters over his body. Nico waited, and soon Percy's even breathing soothed his ragged nerves. He feared that Percy might have changed, pulled his shoes on and took the train home, he hated when the brunet didn't say good-bye to him, but they didn't have the sort of relationship where Percy should wake Nico up when he was leaving.

He turned and put an arm on Percy's chest, still feigning sleep. The arm was pushed away of course, and Nico knew it would be, but he was more comfortable sleeping against Percy than he was curled into a ball on the side of the bed.

He stayed awake for a few more hours, just lying there in the sparkling light of the morning. It had to be seven or eight and the pre-summer sun was already high in the sky, not that you could tell because of Nico's curtains, but light still snuck through the bottom of the windowsill. ' _Shit_ ,' He thought to himself. ' _I can't be in love with Percy_ ,' He looked over at the brunet who had a trail of saliva drooling out of his lips, and suddenly he was tempted to reach across and caress him again as he had done the prior night, but he quelled the urge and instead closed his eyes. ' _I know how this ends_ ," He continued in his mind, trying to persuade himself to stop this nonsense, it caused more pain than it did good.

He didn't want to be _that_ gay guy, the one who, against better judgment, still tried to change a straight man into one of his preferred persuasion. He knew how self-deprecating it was to be _that_ guy, how little a chance he stood actually achieving that sort of goal, and how badly it reflected on the entire homosexual community that he would actually be ignorant enough to fall in love with someone who could not love him back, no matter how much he wanted him to.

His eyes prickled at that thought, and before he knew it he was crying again. Nico found that it was harder to cry silently when the object of his affection was right beside him, so instead he rolled quietly out of bed and made his way into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. He sobbed for what felt like forever, unable to stop the tears; in actuality his crying last for about ten minutes, and he wasn't sure exactly what his grief and lamentation was about. There were a lot of points from which his sadness could have come from, but only one rang true. He hated loving like this, he felt used, he felt like everything in his life was a jumbled mess, and—he realized—it wasn't exactly Percy's fault. Percy didn't know how he felt, and Nico was too afraid to tell him.

He could imagine that look of horror on Percy's face, a mix between anger and disgust that would hurt more than any punch ever could. He sat there, on the cold bowl of the toilet, seeing those beautiful blue eyes burning with hatred and betrayal—how dare Nico like him. How very _dare_ that faggot call him his friend? Nico sobbed again. There was a knock at the door.

"You in there, son?" He sat up.

"Yeah Dad, I was about to take a shower," Nico lied through his teeth.

"Well open up, I want to talk to you first," His heart began to race, his Dad never wanted to just talk, only when something was going wrong, or if he was failing classes, and he damn sure wasn't failing anything.

"Can it wait?" Nico asked.

"No," Was the reply, and from his tone Nico knew his Pop wasn't going to wait for him to unlock the door, he did have a key after all. So Nico dried his face as best as he could and looked in the mirror. His black hair was swooping up in a design that defied not only gravity, but logic as well. There were small bags under his eyes, not that they were very noticeable considering how red his eyes were, and it looked not like he'd had trouble sleeping, but like he'd been crying for ten straight minutes. He sighed and opened the door.

"Yeah?"

"Don't just 'yeah' me, Nico." Hades said, dressed in a tight black shirt which was tucked into an even tighter pair of leather pants, a spiked belt decorated his waist, and leather boots made up his feet. His hair was combed and pristine in its midnight coifed glory, and with his black rimmed glasses he looked every bit the writer he was aspiring to be.

"Yes sir," Nico said obediently, looking away from his Dad's eyes, his eyes.

"Look at me, son." So he looked up. "Have you been crying?"

"No." He answered too fast; he knew he did considering that his Dad hadn't even finished the sentence when he blurted it out. But he stuck by his lie. Then Hades' eyes narrowed and he leaned down to look Nico in the face. Hades was a whopping six-seven to Nico's five-seven, and the younger di Angelo man wasn't growing anymore, his mother's genes made sure of that.

"What did that Jackson kid do to you?" The whisper was so vehement and quick that Nico thought for a quick two beats that perhaps Percy _had_ done something to him. But it was the other way around, guilt washed up his throat and he swallowed it like a dose of foul tasting medicine.

"Nothing," Nico said. "He didn't do a thing to me," But Hades didn't look like he bought that.

"Nico, you have till the count of three to tell me what's wrong or I'm kicking his ass." When he stood up to his full height again Nico could almost see him wreathed in a black crown, robes billowing around him, and a sword made of some unbreakable metal in his hands, the king of his home. "One,"

"Dad, really he didn't—"

"Two,"

"Dad! Listen to me! He didn't—"

"Three!"

" _I'm in love with him!"_ Nico hissed. The fingers that Hades had been using to count with fell out of the air and dropped by his side. He was a slim man, toned and tall, in fact he was really rather handsome. He was courting a woman by the name of Persephone, a strange name, but such a beautiful girl, it was like Summer flowers bloomed everywhere she went, he had planned on calling her later in the day. Not only was he handsome, and hardworking, but he considered himself to be a good father—stricter than most, sure, and he made Nico worked most of his own simple problems out by himself, but the thought that his son, _his_ son, was gay…it would take some getting used to.

At least, that's what he told himself last night when his beliefs were cemented by the display he'd seen walking into his son's room, and the obvious joy on Nico's face from being touched by that Jackson boy. But he didn't suspect it was that serious. Nico was no normal teenager, he didn't lackadaisically say things, or half-heartedly do things, and he had always had such a strong hold on his emotions, Hades couldn't remember him crying since that day he'd given him the speech about being a man. ' _Men have to be strong when no one else can be_ ,' He told the nine-year-old Nico who had been bawling his eyes out at his mother and sister's wake, and he hadn't seen the boy shed a tear afterwards.

The first thing Hades could say was, "Are you sure?" Then Nico nodded very slowly, his eyes were unguarded and fearful. He was…afraid to disappoint Hades. The older di Angelo man blinked, his son—who's heart was most likely in a state of disarray—who had been crying his eyes out only a moment ago—was standing there, afraid he would incur his father's wrath. "I mean, shit kid." Hades finally said, trying desperately to be the supportive figure he knew his son would need. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you to be ashamed," Nico admitted and Hades knew he'd deconstructed a very thick wall that Nico kept up for the purposes of not getting hurt; of course that damned Percy Jackson had already gone and weakened it to near crumbling. "I don't want you to disown me, Dad."

"Dis—" He staggered back a step. "Nico, kid, I love you." Hades said. "Believe me, you're the only living thing I can say that about and mean it, you're my flesh and blood. I wouldn't disown you if someone offered to make me some all powerful god, with unlimited riches and women." That caused his son to smile a very small grin.

"Yeah, you'd just do it for the women, and maybe a bottle of Jack Daniel's," Nico smirked.

"Damn right," Hades' clamped a hand onto Nico's shoulder and his eyes turned somber. "But, son, I would _never_ disown you. You fuckin' turn into the rainbow itself and I'd say, 'Yeah, that's my son wearing the short shorts and the pink belly shirt, you got a problem with it?'." And Hades believed that to be true.

"Thanks Dad," Nico said, his spirits lifted momentarily.

"Yeah, no problem—you're not really going to…you know?"

"No rainbows here, I promise, still all doom and gloom." He said with another small smile, then he snuck a very forbidden hug in and closed the door in his father's face, who, on the other side, said very calmly, "I'm poisoning your breakfast for that."

"Make sure its arsenic, that's my favorite!" Nico called and disrobed, turning the shower on, his father's efforts to raise his spirits fell away as soon as he stepped into the shower. For a while he just sat under the powerful stream of water and let it soak him, his Dad accepted him, which was good. But there was still the matter of Percy, he wondered to himself how his brunet haired friend would feel if Nico just ignored him for the rest of their lives, secretly pining him until his twilight years. But then he thought that plan wouldn't go over well, if he didn't talk to Percy then Percy would talk to him, and there were some questions he couldn't avoid. He still had three weeks of school left and _all_ of his classes were with Percy and Annabeth. Most of the time they would leave him alone if he wasn't feeling very talkative, but the athletic car nut wouldn't even give him a moment of solace if he just up and stopped talking to him.

That plan was out. He could always tell Percy and hope to appeal to his more empathetic side. He knew that Percy wasn't homophobic, but to think that his best friend for the past—what—six years or so was actually a gay in disguise? Then Nico chuckled to himself. No one actually said that, referred to someone of the homosexual nature as wholly 'a gay.' It was either just gay or something much worse. So what were the problems with telling Percy the truth? Scornful looks? Friendships being broken? Possibly a fist fight Nico knew he couldn't win, no matter how bad he tried to make himself look Percy and Annabeth, and even their friend Grover (who Nico was impartial to, he was cool to hang with from time to time) could see past all his bullshit. He sighed and leaned against the tile of the shower. What the hell was he supposed to do?

Percy woke up to the smell of eggs Florentine, something he only ever got to eat at Nico's since his dad was some weird Marine Corps specialty cook or something, who left the service after he'd done his time and became an undertaker. Percy shrugged and sat up, slightly cold. He shivered and realized that there wasn't a short, obsidian haired boy wrapped around him with a vice grip. Nico was just the type of person who latched onto you while he slept and Percy didn't mind, he was warm, though sometimes it got too hot and he had to push Nico away.

The shower was running, and that was probably where his best friend had gotten off to. Percy loved Nico's house for another reason too: he could sleep in. Usually he'd be woken up by his mom on the phone with his dad—his biological father—yelling at him to be at Percy's graduation. Poseidon (seriously, that was his name, Percy's granddad really like Greek mythology or something, which is why his parents had decided to name him Perseus, well it was sort of his mom compromising with his dad, Perseus was a lot better than Agamemnon) was a good guy, really. He was just busy with his own family and his own problems and Percy didn't mind so much, when he saw him they went out to ball games and got hot dogs and went to the beach and threw a football around and it was always a good time to be had, but his mom was very vehement about him being at Percy's graduation. He shook his head and yawned, and then he stood up and made his way to the kitchen.

The door to the bathroom opened and Percy snickered at the sight of Nico, he was such a thin boy, and with that amount of hair on his head he looked sort of like a drowned cat. "Don't say it, Jackson." Nico said, shouldering past him because he'd made the comparison aloud before. Then Nico slammed the door like he was wont to do when agitated with him. But what could Percy say? It was a gift to irritate Nico, and he seemed to be especially good at giving that particular present. He advanced to the kitchen, walking by a Jets/Cowboys game and stopping momentarily to watch. The Cowboys were down five. He shrugged; they were his dad's team anyway.

"Good morning, Mr. di Angelo," Percy smiled walking into the kitchen.

"Kid, call me Hades, I'm not fuckin' old enough to be a 'mister' yet." Nico's Dad said, and it was true, he didn't look very old at all, but he had to be nearing thirty-nine—which in Percy's book was old-ish. Then he cast him a black glare the likes of which Percy hadn't ever had the displeasure of seeing. "Sit down," So Percy sat. "You're a good kid, right Percy?"

"Hey you got my name right," Percy said with a bit of a smile.

"Yeah," Hades said. "I did, answer the question."

"I—uh—yeah I'm a good kid. I mean I don't do drugs or drink or anything like that, if that's what you mean." He answered and Hades plopped a delicious looking egg onto his plate.

"Yeah, right, and you wouldn't do anything to hurt Nico, right?" He asked, setting an egg at Nico's usual seat.

"I—no! Nico's my best friend, I'd never pressure him into doing anything like that," Percy said, and Hades only continued to give him that dark look. Suddenly Nico was standing in the kitchen, a grass green shirt with several black cartoon skulls dancing around the midriff after one another and a pair of dark blue jeans with his black and white converse.

"Dad," Nico said, glaring. "you're not bothering him are you?" At which Hades gave him a reproachful look.

"Does that sound like something I would do?" Hades asked with a Cheshire grin. "Sit, eat." The rest of that morning was spent with talk of school projects, and which teachers they hoped never to see again, Percy told Nico that he and Grover were going to go nude under their graduation robes and Hades rolled his eyes almost audibly at the stupidity of that, but, he could remember being a kid too.

Then a topic came up that Nico was uncomfortable with. "Who're you taking to prom, man? I'm telling you Rachel wants your number!"

Hades raised an eyebrow as Nico answered, "I don't actually plan on going." He said, trying to sound nonchalant and inconspicuous. "I'm not the party type Perce, you know that." And it was true, Nico didn't much like parties of any kind, and lately it seemed the only kind kids his age were having involved loads and cases of pilfered alcohol. But Percy was social, and people seemed to love him—it was very easy to do Nico admitted.

"Ni—co!" Percy said, exuberant as always. "It's going to be our last time to all be together as seniors! Come on, if you won't do it for me do it for the ladies, they love a man in a tux, you like dressing up right?"

"Are you trying to goad me into going to the prom by appealing to my fashion sense?" Nico asked, an unbelieving and wry smile on his lips. "Do you know me at all?"

"I know that if I keep asking eventually you'll give in," Percy said with a smile and Nico felt his cheeks flush.

"A power you probably shouldn't lord over people," Hades said, taking a sip of milk filled coffee. "If he said he didn't want to go, then he probably doesn't want to go." He smirked. "Besides, isn't it a bit strange that you're asking him to prom?" Percy's face took on a red quality and Nico sighed again.

"Dad…" He said in a warning tone.

"Just saying,"

"I'll think about it Percy. But if I go, I'm going stag." Nico intoned, ignoring his father's comments and how revealing they really were. If Percy did ask Nico to the prom then he would have said yes automatically, but he hadn't asked Nico to the prom, he'd asked Nico if he were going, and told him he should ask their mutual friend Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

"That's no fun," Percy said, the ultimate teenage youth. He was handsome, social, personable, everything Nico was not, and yet somehow they clicked perfectly; well, it had been perfect till Nico went and fell in love.

"You gotta decide soon, man, prom's in less than a week." Nico rolled his eyes.

"We'll see, it's not like I'm pressed to get a tux," He shrugged. "Dad's got access to tons,"

"A dead man's clothes, Nico? Really?" Percy asked almost flabbergasted, it was no secret just how much the funeral homes creeped him out, once Nico had taken him into the back room where a corpse had been on the slab to be embalmed. Percy blew chunks right then and there. He smiled at the memory and Percy mistook it for him laughing at his discomfort, which wasn't far from the truth.

"What better way to honor the dead than to keep their memory alive?" Nico asked, and it was probably best that Percy had already finished his breakfast because he looked positively green at the thought of Nico being in a dead man's tuxedo. "Honestly Percy," Nico laughed, shaking his head. "We could order one from the company that sends them to us, how could I wear a dead man's suit if he was buried in it?" Embarrassment burned on Percy's face and Nico couldn't help but laugh again, the brunet was so damned cute, around Percy he could laugh and he could joke where he couldn't with other people. But Nico questioned their friendship sometimes when he felt like he would break down and cry, he wondered what Percy would do, if he would comfort him. It just didn't seem like the kind of thing one man did for another without the emotional attachment of lovers. Nico couldn't fathom it, two straight men so completely secure in themselves that they would cry in front of one another.

It was the damnable gender roles that society placed on male and female, as young as Nico was he knew the mantle that men and women were supposed to take up. There were boundary pushers, sure, men became women and women became men nowadays, but those people, well, they were _born_ in the _wrong_ gender most of the time and felt called for that to be righted. Nico, though, he was all male. Perhaps he wasn't the unobtainable idea of man, but he was one nevertheless, and yet still, there were times when he was fragile and vulnerable, it didn't make him less of a man for it. But, the world didn't see it like that, labeling individuals as such names like sissy, pansy and faggot. His heart clenched again at the thought of Percy calling him any of those things. Percy wasn't so insecure to find pleasure in another person's faults, or as schoolyard as to name call, but that didn't stop the what if from making Nico's heart wrench.

Men weren't supposed to cry, or if they did it was in extreme circumstances of pain and grief. Women were not supposed to be earners; they were not allowed to wear short hair or baggy clothing, whereas men weren't supposed to wear the hip hugging clothing, or the frillier clothing, the brighter clothing. So many more constraints that people labeled as "abnormal" seemed so trivial in Nico's mind. Why couldn't a woman wear a buzz cut, tank top, and army boots? Why couldn't man wear a blouse and hair beyond his shoulders? Was everyone so closed minded that someone else's style and choices affected them so severely?

He was personally disgusted and found people who were accusatory of others that lived lives outside the squarely defined "norm" to be the most abhorred, the most _closeted_ individuals. His mind reeled; Percy couldn't be like that though? Could he? There weren't very many homosexual kids at his school, why the very Rachel Elizabeth Dare that Percy had been trying so desperately to hook Nico up with identified as bisexual and he didn't seem to have a problem with that. But once again, it was different for women in a man's perspective. As long as she continued to want to have sex with him he would gladly allow her to have sex with another female. What people failed to realized was that sexuality wasn't about _sex_ itself, but about love and compassion; it was about feelings and regrets, happy moments and sad, small pieces of joy that you could not find with someone of the opposite gender. And again Nico felt lonely.

' _Even when he's so close_ ,' Nico thought to himself, stealing a glance at Percy, who was reluctantly talking to Hades and smiling uncomfortably. Nico could reach out and grasp Percy's hand, pull him close and kiss him clear across the universe; he could spill his heart and soul on the altar of love and leave it all to chance with a simple yank of Percy's arm and that distance would be gone. The one problem with that was the fear that if Percy didn't return his feelings, if he put his all out there only to receive less than nothing in return, Nico knew he would be empty. At least this way he had something to hold onto.

Percy jumped up. "Crap!" He said.

"What?" Nico asked, being pulled from his reverie.

"What time is it? I was supposed to meet Annabeth in Central Park at one!"

"It's twelve thirty," Hades said looking at his watch. "I..can…drive you if you want," He said looking over at Nico, who nodded encouragingly. Hades sighed but didn't retract the statement. Of course Percy hadn't driven out there, no one really used cars in New York unless it was early in the morning or late at night or if they had the patience of a saint, otherwise traffic was horrible. So the subway, or a bike, or carpooling with someone who had more patience than you behind the wheel was always the way to go.

"I—uh—well yeah if you want, thanks Mr. di Angelo," Percy smiled, Hades' eyes narrowed and he ran a hand through his black hair. Today he had planned on finishing up the penultimate chapter of his first official book, but a fifteen or twenty minute drive wouldn't kill him.

"You riding Nico?" Percy asked, and Nico felt like someone had splashed cold water on him, it was clear on his face that Percy and Annabeth were going on a date, but he'd invited Nico out of guilt, the boy didn't have too many other friends—people found that being the son of a funeral home employee to be a bit of an odd thing.

"You go on ahead," Nico said, forcing a smile. "Tell her I said hey, though." With that they shuffled back to Nico's room where Percy was a flurry of clothing, changing back into what he'd come over in: a wrinkled blue tee-shirt, jeans, and a pair of blue and white Nikes. Nico sat on his bed, trying his best not to watch Percy change but still unable to fully turn his eyes away and then it was over all too soon.

"I'll be back soon, Nico, try to get you outside or something." Percy said with a smile, clasping hands with the shorter teen.

"Good luck with that," Nico chuckled, and then he let go of Percy, who said, "Later, man." Which he returned, he told his Dad he'd see him later as well, and he watched them both head out of the apartment. When the door closed Nico sighed and turned, he went back into the kitchen and poured himself a cup of lukewarm coffee, adding milk and sugar till it was sweet enough to be hot chocolate and went into the living room. Nico's family wasn't _poor_ per se, but they were far from rich. There were few luxuries they had, like his PS3 which had cost him a couple birthdays and a Christmas or two, and his dad's work computer where he did all his writing, and the television in the living room. It wasn't anything special, mind you, thirty inches of flat-screened plasma glory, and as television was mind numbing and distracting Nico settled in to watch something he had a secret penchant for. Phineas and Ferb. So what if he was a seventeen year old high school senior? The show kicked ass in his opinion, and he'd even gotten Percy into it. Somewhere along the "Whatcha doin's?" from Isabella and the bright colored transition sequences Nico's pocket vibrated. He reached into it, thankful for deep pockets that Percy didn't go fully into—though at that thought it occurred to him that Percy had been in his pockets, touching his hips—and pulled out his cell phone. Another minor luxury.

' _Hey'_ It read. ' _Percy come over?_ ' Miss Rachel Elizabeth Dare herself had texted him. He replied quickly, telling her that he had indeed come over and spent the night, and then he added a ' _What's up?_ ' refusing to use the damn text speak teenagers were prone to. He was glad when she sent him a legible response; apparently she refused to use it as well.

' _Cool, he said you wanted to ask me to the prom_ ," The message read. ' _I thought that was kind of weird considering your…you know, not into girls_.' Nico's heart stopped. He read the message again, and he cursed out loud. Rachel Elizabeth Dare was perceptive, someone who could see past just about everyone's bullshit, and she spoke her mind. She was the kind of girl who you either called by her first name, or her entire name, never anything more, never anything less. She was either Rachel, or Rachel Elizabeth Dare, mostly though it was the latter when speaking of her and the former when speaking to her. She was fiery, and not just because of her beautiful flaming red hair, and she was undeniably and irrevocably attractive. Nico was pretty sure if someone threw acid on her face the acid would _stop_ its chemical process and slide down her face like water just so it wouldn't mar a beauty like that.

But he recovered that. ' _Where'd you hear that from?_ ' He asked simply.

' _I didn't,_ ' She replied, then the phone vibrated again. ' _Am I wrong?_ ' One did not lie to Rachel Elizabeth Dare, she could sniff out a falsehood like a foul odor, and he was sure that even a digital tall tale would be quickly eviscerated, so instead he said,

' _No, you're not_.'

' _Don't be so mad,_ ' She said, a smiling face made of parenthesis and a colon grinned at him from the screen. ' _It's not_ horribly _obvious, I just kind of vibe on these things. But that's not what I texted you about, why does Percy think we want to go to prom together?_ '

' _I don't know, he's been trying to get me to ask you myself all day._ ' Nico revealed. ' _Probably just picks up that I've never had a girlfriend and thinks I might be a little lonely._ '

' _Well you are_ ,' Rachel's text might have just been bolded Arial font, but it seemed like a Holy passage from the Bible when Nico read it. ' _I mean, I'm guessing you are, you like Percy, right?_ '

' _You ask a lot of questions, Rachel,_ ' Nico texted, and he was glad she wasn't there to see him because his face was beyond red, it had reached a point where it would need a new name for the color. Perhaps: Rachel Asks Nico Too Many Damned Questions Rouge?

' _I'm coming by,_ ' She said and Nico's mouth fell open.

' _What? Why?_ ' He asked.

' _Never thought I needed a reason to see a friend,_ ' Again that damned smiley face grinned, but this time a semi-colon made it wink suggestively. Nico sighed, but before he could reply she sent, ' _Buzz me up._ ' The light to let him know that a guest had come light up against the wall intercom, he growled and went over to it, pressing the _enter_ button with a bit more pressure than it required. Within minutes there was a knock on his door and he let in a very pretty, and widely grinning redhead dressed in a sleeveless white tee-shirt and runner's shorts. "Hey," She said pushing past him.

"Hey…" Nico said, watching her plop down on his couch. "You run all the way over here from 42nd?"

"No I drove," She smiled. "Those stairs are killer though." Rachel Elizabeth Dare had come into womanhood in the most lovely of fashions, even as dressed down as she was she turned heads, she wore make-up only on special occasions—mostly when her father dragged her to dinners and galas—and she wasn't so much green as she was more eco-aware. Rachel was an artist in many things, music, paint, pen, dance she'd been attending art school since she was old enough to enroll in anything, but around her tenth grade year she had transferred to their High School looking for something different as she'd grown tired of the life of a budding Bohemian, though it was still very much a part of who she was. Nico was only slightly jealous of her and Annabeth, with a flit of their eyelashes and a turn of their heads they could have any young men they wanted without repercussion or consequence. Thankfully though Rachel seemed as turned off by relationships as Nico seemed adamant on pursuing the painful journey of pining after his best friend.

"Well to what do I owe this pleasure, Rachel?" He asked.

"I'm going to take you prom shopping," She said, her eyes on the television as Phineas and his stepbrother constructed some cockamamie device that allowed the impossible to take place. "I love this show." She said offhandedly.

"Rachel I—"

"Oh no sir, you're going to prom," She said. "You want to go, if not just to see Perce in a tuxedo." Nico blushed furiously and his eyes hit the floor. "Nico, honey," He looked up. "You shouldn't be ashamed of liking him."

"He's an ass," Nico said collapsing into the sofa beside Rachel. "I mean he doesn't even notice! I've done just about everything but shove my tongue down his throat!"

"You're playing in forbidden territory and you know it," Rachel said with a wry smirk on her face. "How about this, I'll take you to prom, we'll schmooze, dance, make merry, take a few pics for the folks, and go to Grover's house for an after party."

"I don't know…" Nico said, looking away from her again.

"Oh come on, you love Grover! He's a fun guy," This was true, Grover was a good friend, Percy's other best guy friend, and Grover and Percy did the sports things together, and before Annabeth they picked up girls together, and generally did more guy stuff. Nico didn't really mind though, it was always his house Percy was crashing at all hours of the day, his room where they would sit and game, or his couch they'd veg out on while watching movies, and sometimes Percy would give him his most pathetic puppy dogged stare and convince Nico to come play ball with him and Grover. Nico sucked, of course, but Percy seemed happy just seeing him out of the house and Nico loved riding around with him.

"I—guess." He said haltingly and Rachel Elizabeth Dare jumped up.

"Oh good!" She said grasping his hand momentarily. "Believe me I'm going to hate prom as much as you, but it's sort of a rite of passage for us." She said and ripped an envelope on the coffee table in half. "Dear Nico's Dad," She wrote in her loopy, precise handwriting. "I'm taking your son out for prom shopping, we'll be back around six-ish," Then she wrote her number down. "Sincerely Rachel Dare," Her name was at least five points larger than the rest of the small and quickly crafted note, but then again Rachel was larger than life. "Come on," She tossed him his spare set of keys that sat on the table and then grabbed his hand again and they were headed out the door as he struggled to put his shoes on while they took the stairs two at a time.

 _Sight_.


	3. Chapter 3

For some strange reason Nico had never classified Rachel Elizabeth Dare as the girly type. It could have been her almost intimidating sense of carrying herself, her take no prisoners logic, the fact that she knew twelve ways to disarm and debilitate a man—four of which were probably illegal, but it seemed that Nico had been _very_ wrong about his assessment. She held up a baby blue dress against her body, looking in the mirror. "Think this makes me look too princess-y?" She asked turning around to show it to Nico. The dress did indeed make her look like a princess, but there was no "too" to it.

"It's perfect," Nico said, frustrated. "So were the last FIVE you tried on, good God, I think you're going to give the other girls in this store a complex if someone who looks like you can't find a dress she thinks she looks good in."

Rachel Elizabeth Dare smiled teasingly, "Nico you're supposed to be good at this kind of thing, stop acting like a boy." Then she winked and Nico fumed, turning red. "You really think it looks good?"

"YES!" Nico said jumping up. "You won't find a better one actually!" After an entire afternoon of shoe shopping, salon spotting, acquiring a means for hair and make-up provisions, making reservations with Percy, Annabeth, Grover and his girlfriend Juniper at a restaurant that was way too expensive for Nico, and then finally being piled underneath a mountain of poofy prom dresses Nico couldn't say he was much of a happy camper.

"I'm just going to try it on to make sure it fits…" Before Nico could throw off his prison of prom dress nightmares she was in the fitting room. He glared after her.

"You know they can alter them for you!" He shouted into the dressing room.

"But the right one will fit on the first try!" Rachel countered, then she stepped out into the waiting area with a bright smile on her face. Nico felt his mouth open and he closed it, she looked the vision of loveliness in the gown. "Zip me up?" She said and he did. "It fits!" She squealed, Nico stopped himself from rolling his eyes and smiled for her, it was after all going to be her night, not his. She twirled and he laughed, clapping his hands. "Alright! Now we have to get you a tux, oh, and we have to get you some new shoes!"

"Whoa, whoa…Rach, I don't have that much money, me and Dad were just going to order one from the people at the Home."

"The Home? You mean The Funeral Home Tuxedo Emporium?" She asked, her reddish-orange eyebrow quirking up. Nico nodded. "No, no, no. You are _not_ getting a tuxedo from there, we'll go to The Ball Starts Here, they've got all the guy stuff in one place," The Ball Starts Here was a party store, well it was an _event_ store, you had to make sure not to mix up the two. It was also the most expensive store this side of all five boroughs. Nico sighed.

"Rachel—"

"Nico! It's all on my dad's card," She laughed pulling a platinum card out of her purse. "Can you say, charge it?" A smile spread slowly across Nico's face.

"In two small words: hell yeah." He said and they marched up to the counter, where they bought the dress and left her address for it to be shipped to her, then she grabbed him by the arm and pulled him quickly from the dress store hopping into Rachel's lime green Prius that she drove because it was "better than a gas guzzling Ozone killer" and they took off towards the mall.

As they drove Rachel looked over at Nico and said, "So how long have you like him?"

"Keep your eyes on the damn road," Nico sighed, staring out the window as the city passed by him at the crawling pace that traffic allowed, it wasn't so bad, thirty miles an hour, but in about an hour when everyone started getting out of work he knew the streets would be hell. She continued to stare at him, simultaneously changing lanes without so much as glancing out the windshield.

"Nico, you didn't answer the question," And a damned smiled crept across her face, Nico remembered that Rachel Elizabeth Dare was also so cunning and perceptive because she never gave up when she wanted some sort of information, apparently she wasn't going to watch the road unless he answered her question.

"Shit. If you watch the road I'll tell you," He said, and obligingly she turned her attention back to the winding streets of New York. "I don't know," She glanced back over at him and he stumbled. "What—what I mean to say is that I don't know exactly when it stopped being friendly and started being…something else." He said. "Probably when I first met him back in junior high, he was the first kid that didn't go running when I told him my Dad worked with dead people, he said 'Well that's weird, my Dad—my real Dad—is a Marine Biologist,' and the conversation just continued from there."

"Sounds like something Percy would say,"

"Yeah, he didn't leave me alone after that." Nico said. "When I asked him why he wouldn't just go away he said it was because I looked like I needed a friend. God, if he knew what I was he'll wish he never stopped and talked to me."

"What you are?" Rachel Elizabeth Dare asked. "What are you Nico? A guy struggling to keep his Chem grade from being lower than a 'D'? You're no different than anyone else," She said. "What you are is a good friend to a very oblivious guy; at least you haven't forced yourself on him." Nico blushed. "Or…have you?"

"Not while he was conscious, no." Nico sighed. "I—just, when he's in my room he sleeps in my bed, and well, I sleep in my bed, and I just…I like when he sleeps in my bed." Nico blushed harder. "My bed's too big when he's not in it."

"Aww…" Nico threw her a black look and Rachel Elizabeth Dare snorted a laugh. "You're cute," She laughed taking one hand off the wheel to rub his hair roughly, he glared at her still and she snorted again. "My God, how has Percy not jumped your bones yet Nico? You should pout at him like that, he'll be weak in the knees."

"Rachel," Nico sighed exasperatedly. "Percy 'plays for another team' he 'sits on another side of the fence' in other words: he's straight."

"Pfft." Rachel said. "No one is one hundred percent straight; you just have to try a little harder."

"I most certainly will not." He cast her another death glare before folding his arms over his chest. "Even if there was the slightest _iota_ hinting that Percy liked guys he wouldn't like me, he goes more for blonds." Nico paused. "Speaking of which, he's with Annabeth! They'll probably be fucking Prom Queen and King."

"Probably," Rachel agreed. "But then again, they might have it out before that night is up, and when Percy's all nice and sad at Grover's that night you can provide a much needed sounding board, maybe a little crying on your shoulder, maybe a drunken kiss…?" If Nico could have gotten much redder his face thought it might try it and the blush crept down his neck, successfully making him the same color of a tomato.

"Rachel!" He gasped.

"You spend too much time thinking about the consequences, that's why you're always so sad Nico, you don't allow yourself to have any fun. If you tell yourself that Percy won't like you, and then you don't try to get his attention then you're making a self-fulfilling prophecy. So go to prom with me in hopes that he and Annabeth have one of their famous spats before or after the party, and go to Grover's house expecting some good lovin's."

"You—I—Rachel that's horrible," Nico said, suddenly interested in his hands and how he had them laced together in his lap. Then in a small voice he said, "I wouldn't even know how to."

"Ah…." Rachel smiled, and her smile always seemed to be able to foretell events if it proceeded one of her commands, one way or another Nico was going to do what she said, and it would have some sort of adverse effect, good or bad though, he didn't know. "That's not so hard," Rachel said her smile turning mischievous. "You just push your lips out when he's hammered and wet them like this," She licked her lips, making them shiny and wet. "and tell him something like "I'm sorry Annabeth dumped you, is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

"I can't believe I'm hearing this," Nico said as Rachel pulled into the mall parking lot and by the luck of some god she got a spot towards the front. She turned the car off.

"But you're going to do it, or at least try." She said, flipping her hair over her shoulder and opening the door. "Am I right?"

"I don't want to take advantage of him," He said. "I feel bad enough for holding onto him in his sleep."

"Oh please, I groped Annabeth once when she slept over. Hell, Annabeth and I have made-out before, so she could kiss Percy properly." Rachel shook her head and Nico followed behind her, she clicked her car remote and the car beeped alerting her and everyone else that it was locked and alarmed. "You put way too much importance on orientation; I like to think of myself as pansexual."

"What's that? Like super bi?" Rachel laughed.

"Yeah, something like that. It means I like whomever, as long as I'm attracted to them. It doesn't matter what they are." She explained. "Boy, girl, girl who acts like she's a boy, boy who used to be a girl, it doesn't matter to me." Nico blinked his eyes and stared at her with open amazement, he could never be so comfortable with himself. "It isn't that big a deal Nico, you can pick your jaw back up." Rachel Elizabeth Dare smiled, pushing his open mouth closed.

Nico shook his head trying to get his wits back to him. "But—still, Percy'd never—and it's not like he and Annabeth aren't together right now anyway."

"That, my dear Nico, is subjective. Percy's been known to make her upset within an hour's time of them being together." She clasped him on the back. "Besides, it really isn't up to Percy if he falls for you, now is it?" Rachel asked him and they entered into the mall, passing by a dozen stores and taking an escalator up to the second, and then third floor. Finally they arrived at The Ball Starts Here, it was definitely more a store for teens, the radio-play music that came out of the overhead speakers made sure of that and the guy behind the counter who didn't look any older than eighteen—if that—gave them an apathetic stare as they walked in. He was a pierced youth, one eyebrow ring, a nose stud in each nostril, and his septum held a bar, there was a ring in his lip and his ears were filled to the tip with silver, a small gauge in both ears.

Nico found himself interested in one so decadently marred, the guy wasn't bad looking, his hair was longer in the front than it was in the back and it fell just short of his left eye, a few strands of light red hair blocking some of his vision, his eyes were a shocking pale blue color, like the color of the cloudless Summer sky. He was fair skinned with a dusting of dark brown freckles spread all over his face, and when he caught Nico looking he gave the boy a small smile. "He's cute," Rachel Elizabeth Dare said in his ear. "And he's staring at you,"

"I think he might be staring at you," Nico said back to her.

"You give yourself too little credit, sir." She whispered and pushed him forward and he stumbled forward quite a few steps, catching himself on the counter "Besides," She called out. "I've got all the red hair I need, not looking for anymore gingers." For possibly the millionth time Nico felt his face take on that burning quality he knew were his cheeks flaming up. He glared back at her, but the low, almost smoky, coolness of the clerk's voice wafted into Nico's ear.

"Hey," His smile grew.

"Hey…" Nico said, his eyes still darting back to Rachel and his cheeks enflamed such that the thought made him even more embarrassed and made him blush even darker.

"Is that your girlfriend?" The young man asked. "My names Aaron by the way," He held out the name tag on his shirt and smiled and then extended his hand and Nico took it, shaking it. It was very warm.

"No, just a friend of mine." Nico said turning his full attention back to the clerk. "I'm Nico,"

"Mm. Nico, that's a cool name. Well Nico," He leaned on the glass counter showcasing different baubles for last minute purchase. "You here to get fitted for a tux, or do you just like talking to cute attendants?"

Nico tried to smile, this guy _was_ coming onto him, right? "I—er…I mean—I—yes?" Aaron raised an eyebrow and coupled with his thin lipped smirk it gave him a perfectly amused look.

"You don't do this often do you, Nico?" He asked, his beautiful blue eyes were like aquamarine stones sparkling in the midday sun. "I say something funny and charming, you laugh, respond in kind and we hit it off, maybe trade numbers, maybe not."

"You'll never know unless you try, but I've yet to hear something funny and charming," Nico smiled, falling into the game then.

" _Tres bien_ ," Aaron said coming out from behind the counter, he wore a red and white striped shirt that clung to his slightly built form and opened at the neck, showing the minutest of muscles, and a pair of nearly black skinny jeans. "Now, Nico, how can I pretend to help you and your friend while really striking up conversation with you?"

"Pretend to help?" Nico asked, Aaron pointed to the cameras set up in the corner behind the counter.

"My boss is watching me, they don't have audio, but if he sees I'm not attending the customers he'll dock my pay." An imp like smile spread across Aaron's face. "Come on, what are you two doing? Going to prom?

"Yeah," Rachel Elizabeth Dare said. "He's too afraid to ask out the guy he likes, so he's taking me instead of looking like a loser and going stag." She explained quickly and Nico wondered if he could die blushing too much.

"I—Rachel!"

"He's very eloquent," Aaron decided and turned them towards the tuxedos located towards the back of the store. "So this guy you like, what's he like?"

"He's…I don't know how to describe him." Nico decided.

"Like I said, eloquent." Again Aaron smiled and Nico shot him a black look. "Only kidding, it's a wonder a cutie like you doesn't have the courage to ask this guy out though, I'd say yes the second those words left your lips," Here he thumbed Nico's bottom lip.

"It's not that I don't have the courage," Nico said, looking away, Aaron's gaze was beyond strong, it was like he was reading Nico's thoughts and when he heard the clerk's laughter he decided he was glad that he and Rachel Elizabeth Dare were the only people in the store at the moment so they were the only ones who could hear it.

"He's straight?" Aaron asked, clucking his tongue.

"Very,"

"No such thing…" Rachel said in a singsong voice.

"True, but it's easier for girls, guys have this whole macho wall built around them, they think that being gay, or bi if you're bi—personally I'm not much into females, no offense—"

"None taken," Rachel Elizabeth Dare said. "I like my guys a little taller," She remarked, Aaron wasn't much taller than Nico, and Nico wasn't very tall.

"Touché," He smiled. "But like I said, guys have this whole macho wall built around them like if they were gay it would somehow make them less of a man."

"Ah, the male ego never ceases to amaze," Rachel smiled.

"That it does, I went out with this one "straight" guy once, worst date ever. Worst sex ever. Problem was he treated me like I was some delicate little princess, and while I enjoyed him paying for my meal and holding my hand he kept asking me over and over again how hot I thought he was, and said that if I took my piercings out and put on a wig people would think I was a chick."

"And you still had sex with him?" Nico asked, looking askance.

"It was a really dry spell for me, dude." Aaron said. "Plus he wasn't bad looking, I'd happily say, "Yeah, I had sex with him, he loved it, me not so much," but I try to see as little of him as possible nowadays."

"I—wow." Nico looked away. "I don't think I could do that." Rachel clasped her hands on his shoulders.

"Little Nico here is a virgin," She proclaimed proudly.

"RACHEL!" Nico yelled, nearly flabbergasted. A balding man well past his forties looked out of the employee's room, his glasses framed face squinting at them.

"'S'there a problem?" He asked in a thick Brooklyn accent.

"None at all, Sal," Aaron promised. "They're just looking around."

"Paying customers only, we don't need no friggin' kids "just lookin' around" got it?" Then Rachel held her platinum piece of plastic up.

"We are paying customers," She said. "But I guess we could take our business elsewhere…"

"Oh, my apologies miss." The guy, Sal Aaron had called him, blinked and smiled a yellow crooked toothed smile. "Aaron! What're you standing around for, please help these fine customers find what they're looking for!"

"I'm on it, Sal," Aaron said and the man ducked back into the employee lounge, the redheaded male turned his attention back to them. "He doesn't own the place, his brother does—who is much better looking mind you—but he keeps the books and stuff while Paul is out of town," Then he smiled. "So…a virgin, huh?"

"I…yeah, so what?" Nico said, forcing the false bravado that he'd learned from his years of living with his father.

"Whoa, turn it down a little bit." Aaron said. "I think it's cute, have you at least had your first kiss?" Nico shook his head slowly. "Oh my God, kid, where have you been all my life?" The obsidian haired young man gave him a strange look. "You're like the kind of guy I love to corrupt," Aaron said with a growing smile. "Let me teach you!"

"I…don't understand."

"He would like to, golly how can I put this delicately?" Rachel asked, feigning a sudden grasp for words. "Fornicate with you." She decided. "Yes. Fornicate is a good word." Nico's eye bulged before he was sputtering.

"A—Aaron, I mean—you're really good looking—"

"Thank you," Aaron said. "Which is more of a reason for me to…teach you my ways."

"But," Nico continued trying to find his senses. "we just met! I don't even know you from Adam."

Aaron clasped Nico on the back. "Oh well, no means no, right?" Nico nodded once, affirmatively. "Just checking. Too bad to. Oh well, you like this guy right?"

"Yes," Nico said, turning his attention to the tuxes in front of him. He still had to pick one.

"Then I say just tell him, if he's really your friend then he won't kick you to the curb. But you can expect him to be a little weirded out."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Nico said. "Got anything I'll look good in?"

"Nice subject change," Aaron smiled. "Hm, let's see." He took the time to go through a few outfits before he looked up. "Ah ha. It's decided. You'll just have to go nude, I need the address of this prom though, so we don't show up in the same thing."

That caused Nico to laugh, Rachel pulled out a tux and handed it to Nico. "This," She said. "Is perfect. Please try it on." In the excitement she had zoned out and found what they had been looking for. Nico took it and gave Aaron a smile, then he went over to the dressing room.

"I'll call if I need any help," He said good naturedly, feeling his spirits lifted by the two gingers and Aaron winked at him. He ducked into the dressing room. For the first time Nico felt good about who he was, obviously Aaron thought he was attractive, and even though Nico didn't know a damn thing him he could see him spending more time with someone who had...similar interests as him. Nico pulled off his pants and his shirt and for a minute he just stared at his reflection in the mirror. Staring back at him was a skinny kid who didn't look a day over fourteen and Nico hated that about himself, how young he looked. He didn't even have to shave, whereas Percy was shaving every few days, and his slim waist was not only petite but it was girlish. His hipbones pointed out and his ribs showed through on his sides.

Percy was masculine; almost every part of him had hair growing on it somewhere. His chest, his stomach, his legs. Nico hand under arm hair and pubic hair, which was about it. There was a knock on his door. "You sure you don't need any help in there?" Aaron's voice ghosted into the dressing room. For a minute Nico actually considered opening the door, he wondered what it would feel like being pressed up against by the taller ginger boy, the cool sensation of the glass on his back mixing strangely with the warmth of two entwined bodies. Hands grasping, pushing through hair, pulling clothes off, skin on skin. Nico shivered.

"I'm okay," He said, his voice surprisingly not shaking. "Besides, your boss is watching." He added quickly, trying to keep that coy banter that the redhead had instituted up between them.

"True," Aaron agreed. "we have other customers now anyway. Friends of yours I'm guessing, Rachel's talking to them." Nico's heart stopped.

"Is one of them a cute, tall brunet?" Nico asked. "Looks like he should be playing basketball or something?"

"Yeah, he's holding hands with a pretty blonde girl…wait, is this _him_?" Nico cursed that he was halfway through suiting up. He hurried, buttoning the shirt carefully, making sure not to miss a button, and he sloppily tucked it into his waistband. Then he put the vest on and the jacket after that.

"Yeah," Nico breathed.

"Oh God, no wonder you're so into him."

"I'm coming out," Nico said.

"Of the closet?"

"No! Not of the closet, of the dressing room." He corrected.

"Well call it what you want, but good for you." Aaron laughed and Nico made sure to hit him with the door. He was greeted by the sight of the smiling couple as they turned, their eyes meeting Nico's.

"Hey, man!" Percy called immediately and Aaron smiled at him, nudging him forward. Nico walked up to him and clasped hands with him. "See, I told you Rachel wanted you." He smield and Rachel rolled her eyes.

"Really Percy, it's a thing of convenience, Nico needs a date, I'm free, that's about it. A friend date."

"Methinks the lady doth protest too much," Percy smiled and nico realized Annabeth was staring at their hands. He let go and greeted her with a hug.

"Hey Annabeth," He said.

"Hi Nico," She returned warmly enough. "I hardly ever see you anymore; you're always stealing my boyfriend though." She laughed, but Nico could feel that that comment had been a double-edged sword.

"Sorry," Nico smiled. "Good looking guy like Percy, its just hard to keep my hands off of him," His false bravado slipped for a minute and his eyes betrayed him to how much he wished that was true. He put his mask back up quickly and laughed.

"What can I say? Everyone wants me." Percy smiled, the only one in the store besides maybe Sal (and even he had his sneaking suspicions from watching over the cameras). Annabeth looked nearly mortified at this and Aaron laughed from his stand at the counter, Nico only blushed. When the general shock of his statement took on a silent reception, other than Aaron's laughing, Percy grew slightly embarrassed. "Oh-kay." He said. "Well that tux looks good man, Annabeth wanted to get her some earrings or something, but I'm glad we ran into you guys."

"Rachel, come help me look for some earrings," Annabeth said grabbing Rachel by the arm. "What color is your dress?"

"It's like this cyan color almost, we need to get Nico a matching tie," And with that the girls were at the counter, and Percy and Nico took that to be the initiative for them to look for Nico's tie.

"Cyan?" Percy asked.

"It's a sort of blue," Nico assured him, flipping through a few novelty ties before making it to the more fancy ones, the kind with patterns stitched into to them.

"Like this?" Percy held up a navy blue colored one.

"Lighter," Nico said holding a turquoise one up. "Like this, but with more blue than green." They continued to go through them. "You excited to be going to prom?"

"Yeah man," Percy smiled. "I mean, I hate dancing, and Annabeth is being really evil lately—"

"I can still hear you Percy," Annabeth said over her shoulder.

"Love you," Percy said with a smirk, the blonde girl harrumphed and turned back to the jewelry. "But I mean it's going to be so much fun, it'll be the last time we're all…together." An emotion passed through Percy's eyes that Nico hadn't seen in them since the last time they'd seen Percy's father with his packed suitcase sneaking out of the house. They had been thirteen at the time and it was the first time Nico had ever gotten the chance to spend the night at a friend's house. He remembered the big man, more of a surfer than a business man really, with his shoulder length chestnut hair and the crinkly blue eyes. He had a million dollar smile and a personality that just jumped at you, that drew your attention directly to him. Nico knew how terribly Percy missed him.

"Come on Perce, you and me and Grover and Annabeth and Rachel'll hang out all the time," Nico smiled, trying to life his friend's spirits.

"For the Summer yeah," Percy said. "But then Annabeth is going off to California, and Rachel's going to be some movie star/world renowned book writing doctor president,"

"Thanks," Rachel smiled from across the room.

"And Grover and Juniper are going to school together for Environmental Science, and you man, you don't ever talk about what you're going to do afterward."

"That's cause I still don't know," Nico laughed. "But we'll figure it out, you and me,"

"Yeah, I guess," Percy said, he handed Nico a tie. "How's this?"

"Just the color I need," He smirked and took it and held it around his neck. "How's it look?"

"Looks good man," Percy said and his hand lingered on Nico's shoulder, he gave it a squeeze. "Thank you." Nico felt his cheeks flare up and he averted his eyes, moving his shoulder away with a swiftness.

"I'd better finish getting dressed," Nico said ducking back into the dressing room, once inside he wondered how on earth it was possible to miss someone who he had literally just seen. He sat on the bench provide and stared at his reflection, his eyes looked happy and he hated it, he lit up every time he saw that damned brunet, he tried to darken his expression, but whenever he did there was a flash of Percy's face in his mind and he found himself smiling and shaking his head. He finished dressing and stood outside in the store, but when he did he found it was lacking one key person.

"Where's—"

"I sent him to go buy me some fries," Annabeth said, turning her stormy gray eyes on Nico. "You look nice."

"Thank you," He felt a strangeness in the air, like something astronomical was about to happen, he looked at Annabeth with a questioning gaze and she walked forward, her arms crossed.

"Tell him." She said suddenly, staring into Nico's eyes.

"Wha—"

"Before prom. Tell him you're gay, or I will." Nico felt his mouth open slightly and he closed it, his eyes bore into her and his normally powerful gaze just seemed to glance off of Annabeth's reflected eyes.

"Is that supposed to scare me?" He asked. "Are you bullying me into coming out?"

"No," She said and she sighed. "Nico, I can see how much this is tearing you apart, Percy won't care, you know he won't. He just won't feel the same way for you."

"Who are you telling?" Nico asked. "Me? Are you seriously telling that to me? Like I don't already know, like I don't know that no matter how much emotion I put into loving him it will never be returned?" Annabeth's mouth opened but Nico beat her to it. "Alright Annabeth, I'll do it." He closed the dressing room door, pulled off the tuxedo quickly and ducked into his normal clothing opening the door back before Annabeth had even gotten her thoughts together—which was a feat. "Rachel call me when you're free before prom, we'll go shopping again, okay?"

She nodded, her eyes slightly red from some empathetic emotion Nico must have been feeling, but he pushed the thought aside. "Aaron," He said with a nod, the attendant returned it. Then Percy returned with a cup full of curly fries in one hand and a variety of sauces in the other, he had a smile on his face. "I got you the white sauce from the Japanese place, I know how you like to dip your—" He stopped, sensing something was wrong. "What's going on?"

"Your girlfriend is worried I'll steal you away from her," Nico said. "Wh—" But Percy wasn't allowed to finish. "She just gave me an ultimatum, which is weird because she's not _my_ girlfriend, and usually that sort of thing is reserved for dating peoples, right?" He looked around, Annabeth had her eyes downcast, her face looking hurt.

"Nico what are you talking about?" Percy asked.

"I'm gay." Nico said rather loudly, causing a few of the passerbyers to turn and stare. "Is that what you wanted?" He nearly shouted at Annabeth who squeezed her eyes closed. Percy blinked. "And if you don't ever want to talk to me again, then that's fine, I'm sorry I didn't tell you, I've known for a very long time and I shouldn't have kept that from you." He felt the words rush out of him like water over a dam, his stomach bubbled and his heart thumped and his head swooned. Then, before he could throw up, he turned and ran.

"Nico!" Percy called after him, but Rachel put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. Then she was chasing after him, and for such a small guy she found out that he was incredibly quick, moving past people almost like they weren't there at all. Finally they were outside and she caught up to him, gripping him by the arm hard and turning him to face her. "Nico!" She yelled, "Stop!" His eyes were huge and frightened, tears were running down his face at an alarming rate, his shoulders shook and he began sobbing. "Shh," She said pulling him into her chest. "It's okay, it's fine. Everything is fine." He cried still and she hugged him back hard. "Do you want me to take you home?"

Nico just nodded and she ushered him back to the car, trying desperately to pull his emotions back under wraps. Annabeth didn't know that Nico so rarely let things get under his skin, she didn't know that emotionally he was distant for a reason, or that his sexuality was such a hot button issue and that approaching him from that angle could surely only ignite something foreign such as tears in him, tears he would have never displayed so publicly. And suddenly Nico hated himself for having cried twice in one week, in the same day nonetheless.

The trip back to his apartment was a silent one of Nico catching his breath and drying his tears. Rachel stopped the car outside of Nico's building and he undid his seatbelt. "Hey," She said as he was about to close the door. "I understand if you don't want to go to prom anymore." He shook his head, loose curls following in the wake of the movements and his typhoon like eyes, with emotion a-washing and a-waving in them, smiled slightly.

"I promised," Nico said. "I'll see you there, and I'll just get a tux out of the magazine."

"Sorry," She said, a smirk touching her lips. "But no you won't, you're wearing the one from The Ball, and I'll drop it off for you tomorrow," Nico nodded. "Try to calm down, okay? It wasn't the worst thing in the world. Now at least half the mall knows, which means the entire high school knows." She saw him wince. "Sorry," She said again.

He put his head in his hands. "Not your fault," He said. "Fuck."

"Do you want me to come in?"

"No," Nico said. "Go finish shopping so I don't have to come along anymore and I'll text you later."

"If you don't I'll text you." Rachel said, reading his face. "I'll probably be the one to text you, if you don't answer me then I'm coming into your building." Nico nodded and turned going over to the sidewalk and waving her away. Rachel drove off and Nico turned around entering into his complex and waving at Earl, the day guard. Earl nodded at him and let him up and Nico took the flight of stairs to his door. When he reached it he took a deep breath, pulled his keys out and opened it.

"Boy, you're back," Hades said looking up from his paper as he sat draped along the couch. "Have fun prom shopping?" Nico glared at him and closed the door behind him, and then he stormed past and made his way towards his room. "Boy," Nico turned around. "You didn't say hi,"

"Hey, Dad." Nico said sourly, Hades turned around, a huge grin on his otherwise solemn face.

"I've got good news," He said, still beaming, Nico sighed, knowing that his father wasn't going to wait for him to ask and instead he just continued. "Guess who's got a book sent into a publisher?" Nico stopped, the mall incident forgotten. "Guess who's publisher called him back almost immediately?"

"Dad!"

"They loved it," Hades said, his novel was a dark adventure about a man who beat a personified death, and yet through his eternal life could never find any other happiness but finally accepting his fate with resigned complacency. "They want to read all of my other stuff, think I'm classically trained in writing," His smile nearly breaking his face in half. "They're sending a _huge_ check our way just for the rights, and if it ever gets turned into a movie I still have full creative control." Hades' voice was still very even, but Nico could hear the excitement brimming in it. He jumped over the couch and hugged his father tightly.

"I'm so happy for you!" He said and then drew back. "…sorry." He said. D

"Oh for fuck's sake Nico, hug your old man." Nico hugged him again, knowing him to be anything but old. Then Hades pushed him back and the smile slowly slid off of his face. "I want to propose to Persephone." Nico mirrored his father's action, the smile losing its place and was quickly replaced by a blank stare.

"I—I—" Nico tried, unable to find the words.

"I'm not asking for your permission. I love her, Nico, and I want to marry her."

"You've been dating her for like six months!" Nico said, jumping up. "Don't you think it's a bit soon? I haven't even met her yet? Does she even know about me?"

"Watch your tone," Hades said. "And yes, she knows about you, she knows about your mother and your sister as well, she knows a great deal and yet she's still with me. I talked to her the this afternoon and we decided that this was to be a long term relationship, with that said what better way to make a long term relationship than to be married?"

"Dad—"

"I want you to be my best man," That stopped Nico in his tracks, he thought surely his Dad's friend Hephaestus would do that, that old man was haggard and ugly, but a genius and he wasn't afraid to speak his mind. That's why Hades liked him; they both had the same grim sense of humor.

"Dad, I—"

"Once again, I wasn't asking your permission," Here he smiled. "But it would be nice if you said yes."

"And you're sure you love her?" Nico asked, Hades nodded. "Then sure, yeah, I guess." Hades ruffled his hair and Nico stood. "She doesn't, like, have kids or anything right?"

"No, Nico, no kids." Hades said.

"And I don't have to call her mom? I wouldn't be very comfortable with that."

"Call her whatever you want," Hades smirked pushing his son away. "Now run off to your room like the emotional teenager you are." Nico walked away and closed his door behind him, finally letting his emotions get the best of him as he threw himself on the bed and the sobbing began all over again.

_Smell_


	4. Chapter 4

Nico vowed he wouldn't cry anymore. There was no reason to, it left him feeling weak and vulnerable and he hated it, every second of it. His phone had been ringing for the entire day since he got back, and half of the morning and he had been ignoring it for the most part, except for the texts from Rachel. He knew she'd make good on her threat of showing up, and he didn't feel like dealing with anyone. He listened to his voicemail.

" _Hey. Nico,_ " It was Percy, Nico sighed and felt his eyes prickle. " _Shit, man. Pick up your phone. I know you're there, I stopped by but your dad said you didn't want to talk to me._ " It was true, Nico had heard someone at the door but he hadn't gone to check it out. " _Nico, dude, I_ so _don't_ _care if you're into dudes. We've been friends too long for that, please, just—uh, just call me back._ " He erased it.

" _Nico,"_ Annabeth. " _Nico I'm so sorry—_ " He deleted it.

" _Hey, dude, it's me,_ " Grover Underwood, Nico was surprised to hear from him, they only really talked when Percy was around. " _Percy's really upset you're not talking to him, I'm not saying I'm completely cool with the idea, but I mean you can't help what you are, right?_ " He was so understanding. " _Can I see the phone, baby?_ " Juniper, his girlfriend, asked. Juniper was a very pretty girl, she had long auburn hair and dazzling green eyes, her skin was the palest alabaster, like a meadow kissed by a heavy snowstorm and she always had a flower of some kind braided in her hair, lilies, daisies, hyacinths, whatever was in bloom, and she always had a gentle word to say. " _Nico, sweetie,_ " She cooed into the phone in her lovely voice. " _I'm so proud of you, I realize that it was a hard thing for you to do, but you'll feel so much better now that you have. Stay strong, sweetie, and if you need anything, anything at all don't hesitate to call me._ "

Nico smiled sardonically, it was great that she cared so much and all, and he appreciated her concern, but her pretty words didn't soothe his soul and he deleted the message thinking maybe, just maybe, if he did need someone to talk to he might call Juniper, she was always so sincere. There were more messages from people he didn't really care to talk to, Clarisse an old childhood bully who didn't so much bully anymore as she did intimidate, Travis Stoll, Selena Beauregard, Rachel; he'd even been called by the school counselor, Chiron Mann. He sighed and told Rachel by text message that yes, he was in fact still fine, and that he didn't really want to talk to Percy right now, he didn't care if he was wasting all her daytime minutes by calling her about him.

He sighed and closed the phone as his Dad walked into his room without knocking and leaned against the doorway. "How're you holding up?"

"M'fine," Nico said, not looking up.

"Sure sounds like it," Hades smirked ironically. "Nico, you should just forget about that Jackson kid, forget about all guys. Girls are so much—"

"Please don't tell me you're about to lecture me," Nico said, turning his gaze on his father finally. "I don't like girls, Dad. Never have, never will."

"Okay, okay." Hades held his hands up in surrender. "Just thought I'd try, don't get so defensive." Then he crossed his arms. "Are you going to be alright? I have a date with Persephone tonight, and before that I have a meeting with the publishing company to talk about what the cover will look like, I probably won't be home tonight."

"That's fine," Nico sat up. "I can handle myself."

"I know, kid. There's pizza money on the table, call that Rachel girl over, maybe something will happen between you two." Nico glared and again Hades smiled in surrender. "I'm only kidding," He placated, then, in a parting gesture he walked over and patted Nico's head. The boy watched him walk away and sighed. Not long afterwards the front door opened and closed signifying his father's departure and Nico went into the living room with his phone in hand, he called the pizza place and they told him it'd be ready in forty-five minutes or it was free. Then he closed his phone, with a second thought he opened it again and dialed Rachel's number.

" _Nico, hi!_ " Her voice was cheery and Nico thought a bit of cheer might do him some good.

"Hey, you wanna come over for a while? I ordered pizza,"

" _Oh_ ," She said. " _Yeah, sure. Me and Juniper and Grover are at the arcade, is it cool if they come too_?" Then someone whispered into the phone. " _No, I will not ask for you too_." Then she sighed and the phone changed hands.

" _Nico, what the hell?_ " Percy sounded angry and he sounded hurt, but most of all Nico was just overwhelmed to hear his voice. He sighed. And in a very small voice he said "Hi, Percy." Which was met with an exasperated breath of air. " _Nico what's wrong with you? You're not answering my texts, or my calls? You won't see me, what the hell did I do to you? You're the one that came out of the fucking—out of the damn closet._ " He stumbled and sighed again. " _I'm—I'm sorry,_ " He paused, took a breath and continued. _"look, I want to know why you're mad at me_?"

"I'm not mad at you, Percy," It had been what? A day, less than? And Nico couldn't even make it a whole day without talking to him, though truth-be-told Percy had called him. "I just…you wouldn't understand."

" _Nico_ —"

"It's better if we talked about it in person." Nico decided, before Percy could say anything he said. "And not today."

" _Then when? You're being a bastard_ ," He was angry again.

"I'm being a—?—Percy, I know it might not seem like it but I do have emotions, and I just need some time, okay?" Nico nearly exploded. "I've been fighting with the idea of you hating me for what I am for a long time, and yesterday wasn't the way I planned on it to go at all when I—when I came out."

" _But I don't hate you_ ," He nearly whispered it and Nico strained to hear him. " _So I'm coming with Rachel and the others, alright? It should be okay, Annabeth went home early, she refuses to tell me why you were so upset with her_."

"I just—we'll talk about it some other time, okay?"

" _Yeah, okay. I'm calling and having some extra pizza delivered to your place, I bet you only ordered one box,_ " Nico smiled slightly, a bit of calm washing down his chest.

"You know me too well," He said.

" _After six years I should, you're my best friend, you prick, don't ever think you could get rid of me that easily_." Then Nico heard someone laugh. " _Shut up the hell up, Grover_ ," Then he turned back to the phone. " _Anyway man, we'll be over in like twenty minutes_."

"Okay."

" _And cheer up, Nico, or I'll beat your ass_ ," Then he chuckled. " _But now that I think about it, you might like it_."

"Shut up, Jackson." Nico blushed and hung up the phone.

True to their word twenty minutes later his small home was invaded by four teenagers that knew Nico better than anyone else, four teenagers that had just learned his deepest, darkest secret that wasn't very deep or dark at all. He let them in. "How the hell do you get up here, I'm supposed to buzz you in."

"I guess I just have good timing," Rachel smiled.

"It was the weirdest thing," Grover, a handsome youth, said. His curly hair was unlike Nico's or Percy's, Grover's curls were wild, tumultuous things. They rose off his head a good two inches and crawled down his back three. He had impish features, features of a mischief maker, brown eyes with a bright twinkle in them, and his ears had just the slightest points to him giving him an entirely fey look. It was very easy to see why Juniper liked him, but their relationship went much deeper because of their love of nature, and their want for everyone to be completely green. He was tall, borderline lanky, and the dusting of facial hair had hit him before it had the other two young men in the room, and now he was on his way to growing a full fledge goatee. "Right when we got here this guy came out of the door and he held it open for us because we looked like we were going in."

"We were going in, G-man." Percy laughed; Grover punched him in the arm. "When's the pizza going to be here, I'm starving?"

"You just ate, you pig." Rachel said with a look of disgust.

"That was like four rounds of Dance, Dance ago." Percy replied with a smile and it all felt normal again, until Juniper made herself known by giving Nico a hug, the room went quiet and everyone seemed to remember why they were there. Nico hugged her back awkwardly and muttered thanks, but her brilliant smile met his trepidation and mulled it over. Rachel pulled the girl back.

"That's enough, he's gay not terminally ill," She said and Nico felt a deep blush hit his face. The other two, taller brunet young men's eyes were on the ground, as much as they liked Nico it was still strange, the concept of a man being with another man, and made them both horribly uncomfortable. In the car they had decided that it made a lot of sense, that was why Nico hadn't ever seemed interested in girls, or why he never wanted to really go cruising the town for chicks (pre-Annabeth and Juniper days, of course), and the little oddities like being well groomed. Then again, that wasn't a trait found in just gay men, but Percy and Grover hadn't ever really care for the grooming aspect of life.

"Pizza should be here in about fifteen minutes," Nico announced.

"Yeah, the other one should be here about that time too," Percy said. "I had to order one extra large meat lovers _and_ one veggie because three people here don't eat meat." He cast a dark look towards his other best friends and they met it with smiles.

"Some of us value the lives of our fellow animal brethren, Perseus." Juniper said.

"Oh, I value their lives, their delicious, delicious lives." Percy smiled back at them evilly and Juniper recoiled, looking slightly lost for words and a little disgusted.

"Percy, how many times have I told you not to gross out Juniper?"

"You do it enough for both of us, bro." Percy retorted.

"He right," Juniper said. "Just because there's fungus growing on a piece of bread, and just because technically it's a plant doesn't mean it should be eaten."

"Oh come on! That was once, and it was really good!"

"Once? You ate that entire loaf of moldy bread." Rachel pointed out.

"How does she know that?" Grover asked, looking astonished.

"I told her, we tell each other everything," Juniper said with a smile.

"Juni," His olive colored skin went a furious red color with embarrasment and his eyes met the ground. "Not—"

"Everything, loverboy." Rachel said with a wink. "Kudos to the happy un-virgins between us."

"G-man! You didn't tell me you finally got together," The conversation went on like that for a while and Nico directed them to the couches, he probably could have joined in, but he wasn't really up for having the discussion about Grover and Juniper's sex life, the conversation might have turned to him, then a whole new discussion would have happened. Like what kind of guys Nico was into, or how far he'd ever gone with a guy, and he really was uncomfortable with either of those questions. Truthfully he'd never been kissed, and aside from his two minute fondling with a sleeping Percy he'd never even been touched by another guy in such a way.

Not much longer than that the door buzzed and Nico went over to the intercom. "Pizza!" The guy called up and Nico buzzed him in, but before he could turn around there was another jolt to the intercom. "PIZZA!" Nico rolled his eyes and buzzed up the second pizza man as well.

"I've got a pepperoni, extra cheese right here," The first guy said and Nico paid him the twelve dollars, then he dodged around the second delivery boy and was on his way. "Extra large meat lovers, and a veggie supreme?"

"That's me!" Percy jumped up from his seat and paid the man, taking the pizza and moving Nico so he could close the door. In one arm he held the pizzas in the other he put his arm around Nico's shoulder. "Alright, everyone knows why we're here, besides just wanting to hang out with you, and me wanting to chew you out for being such a jerk earlier," He smiled, showing no hint of unease. "How long have you known, man? About the whole you liking guys thing?"

"Percy…"

"What? You said it was something we had to talk about in person, we can talk about anything, remember?" Nico sighed then resigned himself to answer.

"I've known since, like, elementary," Nico said, they went into the kitchen with the pizza.

"Who made you realize you were—you know?" Nico shook his head with a smile on his face.

"Let me ask you something, Perce," He said, and from his tone Percy knew Nico was about to tell him off. "When was the first moment you knew you liked girls? Which girl made you realize you were straight? It's never a single person has it, but sort of a culmination of things. I knew I was different in second grade when kids were getting together and having those pretend boyfriends and girlfriends, and I saw none of the boys were taking boyfriends, or none of the girls were taking girlfriends," Here he sighed. "That's just not how it works when you're young. So I went through the school with the motions of it all, I think…I think Bianca knew. She told me that one day, when I was older, and I wanted to talk to her about something important she would be here for me." They were all quiet at the name of Nico's deceased older sister. "But I just sort of put it aside, I never thought about it, I tried not to, but then yesterday Annabeth made me tell you yesterday," He pushed his shoulder against Percy, trying to imitate the shoves that Percy gave Grover. The lighter brunet suddenly looked angry though and opened his mouth to speak.

"She did—why?" He asked. "If you weren't ready to tell us then she should have left it alone, I just can't understand her sometimes."

"That's another thing we'll have to talk about," Nico said divvying out plates so that the small group of teenagers could feast on their pizzas. "In private." Nico added and he took a large slice of pepperoni. Percy nodded a sort of understanding; he knew his friend was a person who didn't like to publicly display his moods or thoughts, a fact also known by Annabeth. He was near furious with her already for the whole prom thing, she had been dictating to him just how he was to act and when he told her that this was supposed to be a night of fun she'd only looked at him skeptically, telling him that it was more about it being their last few nights together.

That hadn't sat right with him. He wanted to go with Annabeth to her art school in California, but he knew it was futile, he just wasn't interested in that stuff, he was more of a hands on kind of guy, manual labor. The arts had escaped him from a young age and he hadn't ventured much into that field other than the classes that high school required of him. He was brought back into the conversation of his friends after they'd finished their meal by Grover motioning to the bag brought with him.

"A Wii," He said. "Figured we'd do more than just sit and watch cartoon while we were over here,"

"You know we could be studying for our last finals," Juniper replied, but that was met with the smirking of her teenage peers. She sighed, oh how she longed that her group would be more academic minded, she had means of persuading Grover to study, but the rest of them were beyond her help. Rachel was a smart enough girl, damn near genius levels when it came to books, and even further so when it came streetwise, and Nico could coast along without ever really trying, she knew if he set his mind to it his grades would be superb, the only one she really worried about was Percy, he had never shown much like for learning unless it was something physical, and she'd tried to get Annabeth to employ similar persuasive goal orientations towards Percy that she used on her own boyfriend but the girl couldn't be swayed, saying that Percy's academic life wasn't her concern, if he didn't want to learn she couldn't force him to.

Again Juniper sighed and bit into her veggie supreme pizza, soybean meat substitute and a tofu marinara, piled high with cheese and vegetables, it was, in short, scrumptious. After they dined and they found themselves in the living room again with Grover hooking up the console to Nico's television, he was stationed on the long couch between Percy and Rachel with Juniper on the loveseat admiring Grover with an almost worship-filled expression Nico was surprised to hear Percy's next question, "Where'd you Dad get off to?" He wondered, the thing that was surprising was that his best friend generally disliked Hades for all his seemingly creepy and dark nature, but the question was asked without a hint of fear or dissuasion.

"He had some stuff to take care of," Nico said. "His book got picked up by a publishing company and he had to go out to a meeting, then he's got a—date." Nico said the last part slowly, his father had said something about proposal a little while before this day, surely he wasn't going to…Nico sighed and decided that his father wasn't one to wait, he was a man that knew the very mortal natures of humans, having worked with the dead so long had given him an almost rushed sense to life, throwing himself headlong into things like his books, or his affections for this Persephone woman.

"All hooked up, let's get some Brawl going," Grover turned around with a large grin on his face and handed out several of the motes for the system, then he took his seat next to Juniper and she threaded her arms around him, if he were more inclined to the idea Nico thought that Juniper might be the world's best girlfriend, she would sit idly by content in just watching Grover play video games for a day and a half, sneaking in little kisses when his characters had to respawn or during cut scenes she knew Grover had watched half a dozen times. Nico wondered if he would ever have anything like that, but he set to picking his character, good old fashioned Mario.

It didn't surprise him that Rachel picked Zelda, as that was her main character and her favorite gaming franchise. She always laughed when the thought of the—as she called him—quote, unquote "hero" Link had to save Zelda. The Princess was perfectly capable of saving herself, having magical powers far beyond those of the green-clad elfin boy-hero, she would go on to further say that Zelda could _teleport_ herself short distance and nothing short of some sort of magical dissonance device could halt her. Nico laughed, yes Rachel was pro-woman and he couldn't see any flaw in her logic at all.

Percy was Ike, the overpowering hero with a heart of gold who fought evil to protect his friends. Ike's one flaw was that all his power left him arrogant, and to balance his might he was without much speed, so if you were fast enough and cunning enough you could best his offense with a quick riposte and be done with him. Perhaps, Nico thought, Marth was a better choice than Ike, Marth had some semblance of balance, what he lack in Ike's domineering strength he made up for in his swordsmanship.

Lastly, as it was upwards of four—but no more than that—players, was Grover. Grover was a wildcard at this, and most every other game he played. The Wii was his most portable of systems so he had been known to bring it to school on more than one occasion when they had those glorious free days and study periods, but he was well versed in every other console up to and including the SNES. He placed his icon marker on the random tab which would give him any number of the characters they could use and Nico knew that he would be deadly with whomever he was attributed. So was the seriousness of their play, it spoke volumes of how before there were Post Industrial societies, before Industrial, and during the Hunter-Gatherer era the sense of community had always been a competitive one, it may have been every man or woman for themselves, but when it came down to it human nature prospered and there were small niceties given, even still though this wasn't about those quaint things, it was more about how the desire to survive still strove in this society, and yet it had been dwindled so much so in the countries that were over prosperous that it found itself being funneled into channels such as this: winning video games.

They played for several rounds till the game, as it always does, lost its appeal entirely. But then, three hours had passed in such time and the day was beginning to twilight, the game was turned off and Grover announced that he had to get Juniper home before dark or the girl's dad would kill him. He said his good-byes, as did the beautiful brunette girl and they soon left. "Your dads not going to be home tonight, right?" Rachel asked.

"Well, no, I don't think so if things go good with Persephone." Nico said.

"Good, Percy we're spending the night," She smiled. "Unless you want to take the subway back home." But she knew that wasn't a possibility, for all his bravado and poise Percy was still just a kid, one travelling at this time of day by himself would have most likely found trouble. But Percy smiled right back at Rachel.

"Well," He said. "I'd planned on spending the night out here anyway, I knew I was going to have to force Nico to tell me what was going on, but I guess that's not the case anymore."

"Good," Rachel said, Nico had his mouth opened like he was going to protest but before he could say anything she was going to the door with her car keys in hand. "I'll be back up, I have some things in my car," She said, and no sooner than it was out of her mouth was she down the stairs. Nico sighed.

"I need new friends," He decided. "Ones that don't stress me the hell out."

"Oh come on," Percy smiled still. "You love us." He stiffened at the word love, and then Nico sighed.

"Percy," He said. "While we have a minute I do have something else to tell you," Percy's happy face became one of a quizzical nature and Nico didn't know how to properly approach his next words other than the juvenile way of blurting it out, "I like you," He said and before Percy could say anything else he added, "Let me finish! It's not like you think, I like you as more than a friend. I mean, I really like you Percy. I have for a long, long time now and I haven't said anything because I was afraid it would ruin our friendship, but since I'm just throwing all my secrets and fears against the wind today I might as well tell you that too," He didn't look up, his eyes had found the couch quite interesting and he was surprised to hear Percy laughing. He looked up, for a moment wondering about the object of his affection's sanity, and then feeling hurt to see such a look of obvious amusement on Percy's face. "What…?" He asked.

"I figured that much out, Nico." Percy said with his voice full of mirth. "I'm not as dumb as you guys think, when you went running from the store the other day I thought there had to be more to it than that, you know I don't care if you're gay or straight, hell you could be an alien for all I care—actually that'd be pretty cool—anyway, I thought that you knew I didn't care what you were, you know me better than that, and then I thought about all the times I sleep over here and I wake up and you've got like this vice grip on me." Nico blushed and Percy smiled. "I always just thought you were a clingy sleeper, but that sort of answered it for me, not to mention the groping." Suddenly the color drained out of Nico's face. "Oh, you didn't know I knew. Nico, no one could have slept through that, not even me, I thought you were asleep though so I didn't say anything, but this kind of confirms that you weren't."

"Percy, I'm sorry I—"

"No, don't apologize. I think I can almost understand, Annabeth won't even bend in letting me get past second and while I'm not saying I approve it didn't feel bad," He shrugged. "Anyway, I'll compromise with you, if you don't feel me up anymore I won't push you away while we're sleeping, I can only figure how alone you must feel and I just want to help you, somehow, man." Nico felt his eyes tearing up and he wasn't sure what was appropriate anymore, Percy smirked as he watched the boy struggle and gave him a hug as he'd seen Nico's arms twitch in indication that he had been about to do the same, but stopped himself. "You don't have to cry about it, Neeks, it's not like I'm doing anything."

Nico hugged Percy back fiercely, his tears coming unbidden now that there was no one around. "I love you," Nico whispered and for a brief second Percy stiffened, then he relaxed as quickly as he'd been caught off guard.

"I know you do," Percy said and just hugged him back, when his eyes were dry and he was sure that he could hold his emotions together properly he smiled at Percy.

"Thank you," He said.

"Didn't do anything, Nico, get that through your head," Percy answered with a grin. The door opened and Rachel came back in with a large duffle bag.

"I'm guessing you told him," She said, looking at Nico. His mouth opened but he closed it again, Rachel Elizabeth Dare was a fucking mystery to him, and he only nodded. She smiled and came back into the room.

"Good, I figured it would take you forever so I went home and got some stuff, movies, popcorn, some clothes for me, I stopped by your house Percy," She opened the bag and threw a smaller one full of clothes at Percy. "Your mom says if you're going to be here you might as well have a few things to wear since you hardly come home, she said you had an extra toothbrush in there, and she also said she was proud that Nico finally came to terms with who he was,"

"Sally knew?" Nico asked, eyes wide.

"Mrs. Blofish is pretty sharp, I like her." Rachel said and it was then that Percy knew why he was so obedient to the things Rachel said and why he listened to her words so carefully. She reminded him of his mother in almost every way. Once the similarities were seen they couldn't be unseen either and he groaned.

"Of course you do, you're just like her," Percy said and Rachel smiled.

"I'll take that as a compliment."

"What movies did you bring?" Nico asked, suddenly light in spirit, still unsure of what was appropriate between him and Percy but he figured they would work the finer dealings out later; surely he couldn't be so close to him while Annabeth was around, but here now, in this intimate setting he didn't care, Percy was here for him.

"All the Pirates movie, delicious Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom eye candy," She smirked and popped the movie in, and turning to the kitchen to make popcorn. When she returned Nico asked her to turn the lights off, then experimentally he settled against Percy and found that his taller friend opened an arm up for him to lean against him. Nico's heart danced in his chest as he laid his head against Percy's torso, the two of them received a quizzical stare from Rachel, but she didn't say anything as the previews were fast forwarded and the first of the trilogy began.

By the end of the second Nico was passed out, holding tight to Percy with a small smile touching his lips. "What are you doing, Percy?" Rachel asked between handfuls of popped corn. "You're going to fill his head with lies,"

Percy watched the screen as the third and final movie came on, one he wasn't so associated with as he'd only seen it halfway through before. "I told him I'd help him not be so lonely," Percy said. "I let him know that nothing sexual was going to happen, so what if he wants to hold onto me, I don't mind."

"Percy," Rachel said. "I know you're not getting everything you want from Annabeth, I know she's being cold and a little frigid on the matter but you have to know she was jealous of Nico, that's why she gave him the ultimatum, because she thought it'd be enough to jar him away from you." Rachel wasn't watching the movie, instead keeping her vision trained on the dimly lit Percy Jackson.

"She's being insecure then, she knows I love you," Percy said as Nico held steadfast, looking like the cat who caught the canary.

"I just hope you're not using him," Rachel's eyes were so much more experienced than they had the right to be in her seventeen years of life, there was an underlying knowledge to them and though she seemed indifferent to the situation she was concerned for all parties involved.

"I'm not," Percy insisted.

"Good," She said and the matter was left there, to be picked up again at another date, but for now they were just two friends watching a movie in the last hours of the night. When it was over Percy picked up Nico and took him to his room, finding the boy as light as he remembered and laying him on the bed, he turned to go pull the couch out for Rachel but a small sound and a warm, light grip around his wrist made him turn.

"Percy?" Nico asked in a small, sleep filled voice.

"Yeah, buddy?" Percy asked and knelt down beside Nico.

"Love you," Nico sighed. "so much." A tear travelled slowly down his smooth face and Percy wiped it away. It dawned on him that he hadn't even treaded the depths of Nico's feelings, they were deep, and somehow he had taken refuge in the normally callous young man's heart, somehow Nico—a boy who had weathered so many hardships—had fallen for someone like Percy, someone who wasn't even sure what he was doing with life, someone who wasn't sure he was even worthy of such love. He sighed, his mind heavy as he turned and went in to unfold the couch bed for Rachel.

_Taste._


	5. Chapter 5

Nico woke up the next morning warm and overjoyed, something that was a completely foreign concept to him. He found not his arms around Percy, but Percy's arms around him and somehow that lifted his spirits even more. He settled back into Percy, their legs intertwined and took the taller brunet's hand in his. He closed his eyes again and sighed in contented splendor. He knew that Percy didn't have the same feelings he had for the boy, he hadn't duped himself into believing that, but he was happy in the fact that Percy valued their friendship so much he would provide Nico with the sort of physical contact he needed, too long had he yearned for even just a friendly shoulder that lingered longer than most provided, this new sort of pact had him fit to bursting.

There was a particular rightness to this moment, Nico felt for the time like he could laugh in the face of those people who found enlightment through means of meditation, or those who were on a euphoric high of hard drugs and tell them all that the only they need do was wake up in the arms of a boy they truly cared for. He didn't want the moment to end, if there were a such thing as a perfect memory this was sure to be it, he felt Percy's arm flex and he squeezed his holder's hands tighter. "Good morning," Percy's voice was rough with sleep and Nico wished he could wake up every morning like this, though now that he thought about it he wasn't exactly sure how he'd gotten to bed. "How'd you sleep?"

Nico blushed deeply and Percy laughed in his ear. "It was the best sleep I've ever gotten," He said truthfully, every muscle, every connecting tendon, felt rested. His step was sprightly and quickly Nico turned around and hugged Percy to him. "Thank you for still being here, for a minute I thought it was all a dream." Percy patted him on the back and just sat there for a minute rubbing circles to comfort the younger teen.

Finally he said, "I'll always be here, Nico. No matter what," The that smile met his lips and he said, "Now, how about some breakfast? I'm starved."

"You're always starved," Nico replied with a laugh and before he could stop himself he leaned up and pecked Percy on the lips. Immediately fire exploded the pit of his stomach as it travelled down from his mouth, that moment of rightness shifted to a moment of even righter-ness, as that flame took over his entire body, then realization dawned on him exactly what had just happened and he pushed himself away from Percy. "I'm sorry," He said not looking at him. "Shit." He said and turned away. "Shit, I'm so fucking sorry. God, that was stupid." He wondered how he could have done that, he hadn't been thinking and he had just gone with the motions his body had been begging of him. Percy's arms came across the bed and lightly tapped Nico on the shoulder, the slighter brunet looked up.

"First, you suck at kissing," Percy said and he laughed at the look of annoyance that crept across Nico's face along with the sudden horror of what he'd done. "Second, it's my fault, I should have given you some guidelines that were more specific than 'no groping' I didn't think you'd be so bold though,"

"I know, I'm sorry, I just thought…well no, I wasn't thinking. I wanted to and I did," Nico heaved a heavy sigh. "I ruined a perfectly good morning."

"My morning," Said Percy, "Will only be ruined if I don't get some breakfast, and you make such a nice one…" Immediately Nico was up, he looked down and found that he'd been changed into his pajamas.

"When did—?"

"You were dead asleep, I didn't think you looked very comfortable in your jeans," Percy replied and turned over. "Wake me up again when breakfast is ready," He said with a hint of a smile in his voice. Nico huffed and threw a fallen pillow at his comrade turned confidant, but he smirked when he realized Percy still hadn't set any 'guidelines' about what he could and could not do other than the whole 'no touchey' policy, and that one was easily accomplished, he couldn't imagine doing that again without permission, his heart'd like to leap out of his chest from the last time. Opening the door he began towards the right to the kitchen but instead turned left towards his father's room. He stopped by a family portrait for only a second and thought the same thing he did every time he passed by it, how beautiful his mother had been, how gorgeous his sister would have been, how he would have been fighting tooth and nail for Bianca when the boys had come calling, he would have been a jealous younger brother.

Then he swallowed his thick emotion and knocked on his Dad's door. There was no immediate answer so he opened it to find the room as empty as had been left the day previous, which meant things must have gone over well with Persephone. He decided he would give his father a little wake up call, he went back into his room and found his phone in his jean pockets left on the floor. Before he called his Dad an idea popped in his head and he smiled, he hit the camera button and took a picture of the sleeping boy there, thankful that his phone camera had a decent resolution and not a mite of Percy's absolute Percy-ness was washed out. He saved the picture and then began dialing his father's number, closing the door again as he made his way to the kitchen.

He smiled at Rachel Elizabeth Dare sleeping soundlessly on the pullout couch and saw that Percy had even gotten her the extra comforter and pillows they kept in the hall closest. He walked over to her and before he could touch her arm she said, "I'm up."

"Oh, good morning," Nico smiled.

"God you sound cheery," She groaned and turned over on her stomach and stretched. "Did you and Percy do it last night?"

"What? No," Nico laughed. "At least I wouldn't know, I was asleep, but I think he'd wake me up for something like that."

"You'd be surprised, guys don't care if you're awake or not," She laughed and threw a pillow at Nico's head. "What the hell are you doing up so bright and chipper, fairy boy?" The latter of the sentence made Nico drop his smile and she laughed. "I'm only kidding."

"Well I was going to offer to make you some breakfast but I'm not so sure anymore…" Nico said and when the look of playfulness dropped off her face Nico found himself laughing as well. Then the door to his room flew open and his heart was racing as Percy came barreling out of there like a bat out of hell, in one of Nico's shirts and no pants, truthfully it was one of the shirts that was much too big for Nico that Percy always borrowed, but still it was slightly tight against his body, and he had either been too tired to locate the shorts Nico normally borrowed, or he just hadn't wanted to, Nico wished Percy was more of a briefs kinds guy absently as he stopped in front of Nico. "What's going on?" He asked Percy.

"Cold pizza," Percy said.

"What?" Nico and Rachel said at the same time and then they exchanged glanced: Percy was absolutely insane.

"Cold pizza!" Percy persisted. "You don't have to make breakfast, we've got motherfucking cold pizza!" Then Percy pushed past Nico excitedly and ran into the kitchen, Nico could only watch after him.

"You're in love with that," Rachel said dryly.

"I know, I'm thinking of having myself committed," Nico replied. After the initial shock of it all it registered in Nico's mind how much Percy did in fact love cold pizza, the boy was absolutely gaga about it and how he had forgotten escaped even Nico's ability to comprehend. "Aren't you going to have any?" He asked Rachel his first slice, Percy's second, in.

"Coffee," The girl said. "Please tell me you have a coffee maker?"

"Yeah, hold on," He went to one of the cabinets and pulled down the coffee maker, filling it with water and a fresh filter. "Do you want any of ours?"

"Unless you've got Premium Columbian Roast then no thank you," She said going over to her duffle and pulling out a huge bag of beans. "You got a hammer?" Rachel Elizabeth Dare in fact had Premium Columbian Roast coffee beans, not imported but picked from her last trip with her father down to South America, they had been toasted to perfection over an open flame and the two pound baggie in her hands smelled delightfully. "I need to go back soon," She said, meaning Columbia. "I'm getting light in my supply," Nico hefted the bag and wondered what a proper supply of the stuff looked like to Rachel. After they smashed a couple dozen into fine coffee grounds they dumped them into the filter and not long Nico's entire apartment smelled just like Premium Columbian Roast and he was okay with that.

Normally Nico drank his coffee very sweet, milk and quite a bit of sugar, but Rachel put his brew to shame with a coma-inducing amount of milk, sugar, cream and half-and-half. After he took one sip from her cup the world slowed down a considerable amount, or maybe it was that he sped up. Either way, he found out that morning that one tenth of Rachel Elizabeth Dare's awesomeness came from Premium Columbian Roast coffee and he knew that from henceforth regular coffee that was not of the premium or Columbian kind would pale in comparison.

The door to their apartment opened and Hades walked in with a small smile on his face, a pretty woman on his arm. She was a dark beauty, her hair the color of midnight, but there was a flowery quality to her, her entire essence oozed the thought of being in bloom. Her smile lit up the room and her quiet laughter was like the tinkling of glass bells. She had a Grecian face, a high brow with thick, arched eyebrows and her beautiful dark ringlets of hair were pulled back by a silver band that sat atop her head to fall down her shoulders.

Immediately Hades looked up, something was off about his living room, and he realized that the couch was pulled out. His eyes turned to the kitchen. "Nico?" He asked and found the boy in the kitchen.

"Hey, Dad," Nico said with a smile, he watched his father survey the kitchen.

"Why doesn't he have pants on?" Hades asked, an eyebrow arched upward.

"Percy, why don't you have pants on?" Nico asked.

"It was hot and I could find any shorts," Percy shrugged.

"Weird," Hades said. "Try to keep some pants on around here kid, no one wants to see your skinny little legs,"

"Agreed," Rachel commented, looking up from her slice of veggie pizza.

"Luckily for you I can't be bothered to be upset today, I'm engaged," He held a hand out for Persephone to come to him and she took his, showcasing her ring. It was a large princess cut diamond with a white gold band. Rachel gave a low whistle.

"That rock costs a pretty penny," She said looking at it. "At least twelve thousand," She grabbed Persephone's hand and looked closer, taking in the small details of the ring. "I can't really see any flaws in it either, but then again I don't have a magnifier,"

Persephone pulled her hand back, looking slightly bewildered that the girl had the gall to touch her. Her face turned from the model like beauty into one of near disgust. "She touched me," She said accusingly.

"I—what?" Rachel asked, Persephone pulled hand wipes out of her small clutch bag and cleaned her hands quickly.

"I'm sorry, dear, but I don't know you, and I just don't like strangers touching me." She said as she thoroughly cleansed her hand. Hades moved behind her and motioned to his son.

"This is Nico," He said in an introductory manner.

"Oh I've heard so much about you," Persephone smiled. "You're just as handsome as your Dad, hold out your hand," He did and instantly she pulled another clean wipe out of her purse, rubbing his hand down with it. She shook his hand then. "I only wish we would have met before this,"

"Yeah," Nico cast a glance over her shoulder at his father. "Me too."

"Hey, kid you wanna take a hike today? Spend the night over Jackson's."

"I—I guess I could," Nico looked at Percy who just shrugged.

"Sure, you're always welcome,"

"Then why the hell are you always at my house?" Hades asked, Percy smiled.

"I just like the company I guess, sir." Hades rolled his eyes and told them to get out of the kitchen. So they cleaned up their dishes, put away their unfinished pizza and then the couch-bed.

"Gonna get dressed," Percy said and Rachel took a seat on the couch as Nico followed behind him. They entered into his room and Percy was surprised when Nico's arms wrapped around him. "I need to get you a bell," He laughed and turned around.

"I'm sorry I have to put you through this," Nico said.

"Put me through what? My mom loves you, sometimes more than she loves me I think, and you talk about all that boring stuff with Paul I don't care about."

"Not that," Nico said. "I'm sorry I'm so pathetic that you agreed to just let me love you, I know this isn't your idea of a friendship,"

"Any kind of friendship that I have with you is a great one, Nico," Percy assured.

"Damn it," Nico sighed and hugged Percy tighter. "I wish you weren't such a good guy, then this wouldn't be so hard, I could just forget about any of this," Percy laughed then held Nico an arm's length away.

"I'll take that as some kind of compliment." Percy smiled. "You can't be so hard on yourself Nico, I'm comfortable enough with myself that I don't care if you're hugging on me, I haven't seen you smile this much in a long time, and the fact that it's because of me is awesome."

"Can I apologize one more time?" Nico asked.

"For what?"

"For this," Then he pulled Percy down and kissed him again, that same spark taking hold of him and causing him to experience complete bliss, he pushed further, every last ounce of desperation passing from his lips to Percy's and then in one moment it was all over. Percy had pushed him away, his eyes wide and his mouth slightly more puffed from the hard kiss. Nico didn't say anything; he just stood there, his mouth agape as if he couldn't believe he had just done that.

"Boundaries, Nico! Boundaries!" Percy nearly shouted, his voice betraying his shock and disbelief. "What the hell was that? That is not okay!" He said with a nervous chuckle, his eyes wide still and his fingers on his lips.

"I just thought—I mean you were being so nice and I—I wanted you to be my first real kiss, Percy," Nico said, he didn't look particularly upset, in fact he was grinning from ear to ear, Percy heaved a great sigh and punched Nico in the chest with a hard thud, but Nico didn't stop smiling.

"Guidelines," Percy said. "No kissing, no groping," He glared, his cheeks burning brightly.

"Unless you say so," Nico grinned.

"Which won't happen," Percy said.

"It was good, right?" Nico asked. "You said I sucked at kissing, I proved you wrong, didn't I?"

"You still suck at kissing," He said and pulled his pants on, wondering exactly what he'd gotten into. Nico was in love with him, something that should have freaked him out to no end, but he was flattered, beyond flattered actually, and he should have punched Nico in the face and he should have stormed out of the room, but he didn't. He just turned around and he stared at Nico who was getting dressed and his lips should not have been tingling still he should not have been noticing how Nico had such pale skin underneath his clothes, or the billions of goosepumps pimpling his flesh. He blinked his eyes hard; there was something in that kiss that had messed with his head. "You said that was your first kiss?" He asked.

Nico looked apologetic suddenly. "Yeah," He blushed. "I know you don't feel the same way about me, and I thought it was a big risk, but if there were ever anyone I wanted to be my first it was you." Percy closed his eyes in exasperation, because he knew Nico didn't even hear the connotations in that sentence, this had been a bad idea. He should have listened to Rachel the previous night, he should have just told Nico that he didn't care if he liked guys, and that they could still be friends, and left it at that. But he hadn't, and now he was just staring as Nico shimmied into a pair of blue jeans and he damned himself for not being able to look away.

"I never thought it'd be me saying it to you, but you're an idiot," Percy grumbled and Nico laughed. After they pulled their shoes on and Nico got a few clothes together.

"You're right," Nico shook his head. "I probably am, come on, I think my Dad is more than ready for us to get out of here," He smiled.

"Don't think just because I didn't deck you that that was okay," Percy said following behind Nico. "I still might knock you out,"

"If you do I got a kiss out of it,"

"You're being cheeky," Percy glared.

"You know what cheeky means?" Nico asked.

"I know words, Nico!" Percy said with an uncontrollable smirk.

"That was a very intelligent sentence," Nico laughed. "Where'd you learn cheeky?"

"I found it in the dictionary," Percy said matter-of-factly.

"Looking for…?"

"Chemise," He sighed. "Annabeth said she was out shopping for one and I didn't know what it was." Again Nico laughed and Percy clasped him on the shoulder. "Tell anyone and I'll…"

"You'll what?" Nico asked.

"I'll make Rachel make you wear an all pink tux for prom," He said and the look of horror on Nico's face was so satisfying Percy smirked again and pushed past the young man. "Ready to go Rach?"

"Never again," Rachel Elizabeth Dare said very sternly. "No one calls me Rach,"

"Eek. Alright, I won't call you Rach," Percy chuckled. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, Nico you guys were gone for a long time," She said in an accusatory kind of manner.

"Oh yeah well, it happens," Nico shrugged, rolling her eyes Rachel let her glare fall on Percy.

"You're to blame for this," She said. "I hope he holds you down and has his way with you,"

"Too late," Nico laughed and Percy blushed a furious red color all over again.

"Nico you didn't!" Rachel said, her mouth falling open.

"It was just a kiss," Nico shrugged.

"His first kiss," Percy said, obviously not very happy about the situation.

"And you're still going to let him come home with you?" Rachel asked. "He's crazy! He's capable of anything!"

"God, you make me sound like a murderer, I wanted to kiss Percy so I did."

"Coming out made you bold," Rachel laughed.

"Too bold," Percy said and Nico looked thoughtful.

"Well I really am sorry, Percy, I keep stepping out of bounds and one day you're going to wise up and leave me," He smiled.

"Keep on and I might," But Percy mock punched his chin. "Come on, you're right, as much as I didn't let it show before your Dad still creeps me the hell out, let's get out of here,"

"Good-bye," Hades walked quickly through the room, he was shirtless with two wineglasses in hand. "Wine should be chilled,"

"Ugh, Dad."

"Don't have time to explain the birds and bees right now, Nico," Hades said around the cork from his wine bottle as he nearly skipped back to his room, and Nico faux retched.

"Please, let's get out of here,"

"For someone as germophobic as that woman I'm surprised she can even—" Nico covered his ears.

"La la la la, I'm not listening," He said loudly.

"I bet she rubbed him down with antibacterial—" Nico punched Percy hard in the arm and then shot Rachel Elizabeth Dare a black glance.

"Let's go," Nico said pushing them out of the apartment and they were laughing all the way down the stairs.

There were three days till prom, finals were done and while Nico hadn't aced them he had done considerably well. Juniper had persuaded him at last to pick up a few books and study, and Nico found that Percy listened to him when he told him he should probably join in on studying with him. The athletic older teen passed, if only just barely. It seemed liked they'd all done rather well, the girls especially, but Rachel, Annabeth, and Juniper were most likely certifiable geniuses.

"I'm not a genius, Percy," Rachel Elizabeth Dare said. "I just do my work,"

"I do my work too," Percy said taking a bite of his cafeteria burger and sucking on a straw dipped in blue Powerade, Nico would never understand Percy's obsession with blue foods and drinks.

"I do mine a few days before the assigned due date," Rachel said pointedly. They were arranged around the rectangular tables. There was a laugh around the table. Of course, being in high school news had travelled around the school like a wildfire, Nico was lucky he was in his senior year because the taunting had been slow to come but it had been there. Every once in a while he would hear a bodiless 'fag' while he walked through the hallways, he was happy that his friends hadn't deserted him, most especially Percy, oh but there was a story there as well.

He and Annabeth had spoken, it was the only thing that would make Percy stop tearing into her. Of course, the things he had been saying were true, that she had no right to be so forceful in the way Nico told htem his secret, that she hadn't taken his feelings into account. Finally Nico made Percy leave the room that day and he and Annabeth stared at each other. "I'm sorry," She said.

"I'm sorry too," Nico replied, but for what he didn't tell her, namely for kissing her boyfriend not once, but twice.

"I was afraid—I mean, I'm still afraid that you're going to try to steal him away from me." Annabeth said, wringing her hands together.

"You probably should be," Nico replied. "I'm in love with him, but I'm afraid he doesn't love me, not like that." Annabeth blinked.

"You're—" She stopped herself. "God, I thought maybe you were just trying to get into his pants, Nico this is—this is messed up somehow." She sighed heavily. "You're my friend, one of my best friends," She ran a hand through her hair, stifling tears in her eyes. "How long?" She asked in a trembling voice.

"Since seventh grade," Nico said, seeing a kind of pain he'd never seen in her beautiful gray eyes. "He's too good for me, I know that," Nico had said sighing. "I could never get him because you're this pretty girl and I'm just Nico, and even after I told him, ever after I told him I love him he reacted so much better than I ever imagined," Nico shook his head. "You should be scared I'll try to steal him away, but you don't have anything to worry about because Percy is faithful to you, come Summer and he'll have applied to that school you're going to, and you can both live happily ever after."

Tears had fallen out of Annabeth's eyes as she stared at him. "I feel bad," she said. "You're in love with him," Nico shrugged and he smiled sardonically like he was accustomed to doing when he was shrugging off everything.

"It's okay," Nico said. "I'm used to not getting many things, it's made me a better person I think." More tears fell out of Annabeth's eyes and he went to hug her, wiping them away. "I'm so pissed at you, Annabeth," He said as he held her in his arms. "More jealous really, look at you, you're beautiful, all of my friends who are girls are beautiful. You can get whatever guy you want, and Percy falls into your hands. I worked for years to get to where we are now and one day he just sees you in the hall and falls head over heels for you," She hugged him back, listening. "I would give everything I had just to have the kinds of fights you two have, you might be angry with each other but you're in love, and when it's all said and done you'll be back together."

"Nico…" She looked up at him with her glossy eyes and again Nico wiped them for her. "You're going to find a great guy, a guy you're in love with and you're going to be happy." Nico smiled here.

"I am happy, just having Percy as a friend I'm ecstatic, how wrong is that?"

"It's not wrong, Nico," Annabeth said, she stepped back from him. "Thank you,"

"Don't," He shook his head. "don't thank me,"

"Either way," She wiped the last of her tears away and put a hand on Nico's chest. "You're a great guy, Nico."

"Ha," He smiled. "I'm really not," She laughed and that's how Percy had found them, smiling and laughing together.

"I'll never understand girls," He smiled and Nico punched him. That had been a couple days ago, and Nico was surprised that Percy had stuck to his promise. Every night for the past five days Nico had slept over at Percy's house thanks to his father's…engagement celebrations. Sally Blofish, his mother, was a gracious host as always. At one point in time before she'd met her current husband and after her divorce from her first husband she'd worked at a bakery and while she was there she had honed her already amazing baking skills to absolute perfection.

"You don't ever cook like this when Nico's not here," Percy said digging into his lasagna.

"Because normally I'm busy," She said with a smile, Sally had taken a job as a fashion designer, and with Paul's, her husband, already lucrative professordom they lived comfortably. So one night, when Nico had sneaked into Percy's room and crawled into his bed, Sally had come in not long after Nico had settled under the covers and wrapped his arms around Percy. "Oh, hello." She said looking down on them, Percy blinked sleepily and looked down at Nico.

"Uh…hi." Nico smiled, the taller teen only shook his head and let it hit the pillow.

"We'll talk in the morning, Mom," He said. "Goodnight," Then he turned over and put both arms around Nico, who blushed furiously as Sally hid a chuckle behind her hands. The door was closed and after the initial shock of Sally checking in on her son to discover him in bed with his best friend wore off Nico too fell asleep. He was woken up by the sounds of their conversation. "I don't know, Mom," He was saying quietly, Nico still against his chest.

"What do you mean you don't know, honey, it's a yes or no question." She replied quietly. "Do you have feelings for him?"

Percy was quiet for a while, and then he said, "I mean I didn't, and then he kissed me and now I'm feeling confused."

"Confused is okay," Sally sounded sincere. "But you have to think long and hard, he opened up to you and you showed him a kind of love and affection he's been dreaming of, it's not a surprise he kissed you."

"You sound like Rachel," Percy said under his breath.

"I take that as a compliment," Sally laughed. "Rachel's a nice girl," Percy groaned.

"God you two _are_ just a like,"

"And now you're avoiding the issue," Sally said. "You said he told you he loves you," Nico felt Percy nod. "Has Annabeth ever said that?"

"Kind of," Percy replied. "I mean, we understand how we feel about each other, you know I don't like taking about this stuff, Mom." He paused. "I think she's waiting on me to say it."

"Do you love her?" His mother asked.

"I—I do, yeah, Annabeth is my first love, I'll always love her," Percy said and Nico's heart sank it wasn't like he didn't know that, it was just that hearing it was sort of a cold confirmation. "But I mean all we ever do is fight—"

"Fights you're too young to be having," Sally interceded.

"And she's going to be gone all the way over to California, on the other side of the States." He tried to sit up but Nico realized that he'd had his patent vice grip around him, which must have been the reason that mother and son had decided to talk in here and not somewhere more private.

"Percy," The way she said it Nico thought perhaps she was giving him that motherly stare she gave him when she wanted him to listen. "sweetie, you're seventeen. You have your entire life to figure out this sort of thing, I'll love you whether you date Annabeth or whether you date Nico, but you can't do this," Here she paused and he figured that she had motioned between the two of them. "It's called leading someone on, even if you set these guidelines his mind might tell you okay, but his heart will make him do things you might not like,"

"Like an ambush kiss," Percy grumbled and Sally laughed.

"Yes, my poor baby, but I think he's quite taken with you, and why shouldn't he be, you're so handsome." Percy made a strange sound and struggled a bit.

"Alright, when the cheek grabbing starts it means the talk is over," He didn't sound very happy.

"Okay, okay," She said and she must have grabbed his cheek again because he struggled another time. "Breakfast is in an hour so you guys can get to school on time,"

"Alright, I'm sure the alarm clock'll wake him up," Percy said. "He's not usually such a heavy sleeper."

"Maybe he's afraid of waking up and finding out it was all a dream," Sally said thoughtfully. "Either way, Percy I expect you to take care of it, no son of mine'll two time Annabeth or anyone else."

"I'm not two-timing on purpose, there's a crazy kid trying to steal my virginity."

"You're not trying very hard to stop him," Sally laughed. "In fact I'd say you were encouraging him,"

"Mom—!"

"Whatever you do, use protection sweetie, and be gentle, he's such a small boy."

"Mother!"

"Oh Paul, did you hear about big bad five foot nothing Nico, he's trying to steal poor Percy's virginity," There was a laugh from outside the door. Percy sighed when she was gone and Nico gave a small chuckle, nuzzling in further to the brunet youth's warmth.

"Oh good, you're awake," Percy said in an exasperated voice. "How much of that did you hear?"

"Something about me stealing your virginity," Nico lied with a laugh. "Didn't mean to give off _that_ vibe."

"Yet you do," Percy said and Nico scoffed and bit his shoulder.

"Ow! Fucker," With a shove he rolled Nico to the other side of the bed where he proceeded to hit the smaller youth with a rather fluffy down pillow. Nico laughed and retaliated with grabbing the other, unused pillow and a full-blown fight began to escalate. Before Nico could leap up on the bed and get the drop on Percy the door was thrown open.

"I'm not sewing those back together," Sally said staring down the two deviously smiling young men. "Good morning, Nico,"

"Good morning, Sally," Nico chuckled, sneaking in another strike with the pillow.

"I trust you slept well,"

"Better than well," He said with a smile on his face, falling onto the bed with his legs crossed.

"I'm sure, why don't you two take that energy and direct it towards doing something productive like getting ready for school, take a shower or something," Then, as she was about to close the door she leaned back in. "Separate showers,"

"Mom!"

"Sally!"

"I'm just saying," She smirked and left, this time without closing the door. That had been this morning, and the words of Percy's new confusion were etched deeply in his mind. He could do one of two things, he could try to push the issue, doing little things here and there, or he could be a good friend and leave Percy alone. God, if only he could just leave him alone. It would all be so easy, to just not think about Percy, the problem was that just to listen to his voice made Nico think of the possibilities of a relationship, and it wasn't just that he'd known Percy forever or that the very thought of him made Nico's heart jump through hoops and his head swoon.

He leaned against the boy he sat next to at the school table, Annabeth looked over at Nico, she smiled at him and shook her head, then around Percy's back she pushed him off of the boy's shoulder. Nico gave her a look that spoke of blasphemy and scandal, but he returned her smile and nodded, not in front of Annabeth. Right.

"Nico di Angelo?" The boy turned around, as did the people situated so they couldn't see behind them. Sitting there in his wheelchair was Chiron Mann, the school psychologist. He was a handsome man past forty, light brown, almost caramel colored rivulets of curly hair rolled off of his head. He had a kind smile in the most disarming of ways and his voice was so many levels beyond soothing that it should have been outlawed, he was most likely the most classified person to have his degree in the world, and he chose to use his gift on struggling high school students.

"Yes, Mr. Mann?" Nico asked, Chiron smiled.

"Would you like to come to my office, so we can talk?" How could he say no to that smile? It was so reassuring, so Nico just nodded and looked back at his larger group of friends, the people that Percy and Grover liked to hang out with who included Nico, and not the other way around.

"Sure, uh, I'll be back guys," He grabbed his tray, long since finished and headed away as the man wheeled behind him, Nico felt like he knew what they were going to talk about, but he hoped he was wrong.

_Hearing._


	6. Chapter 6

"Nico," Chiron Mann, school psychologist said. "It's come to my attention that you've recently "come out" as the colloquial term would have it," Nico only nodded, his heart slightly racing. "I'm sure you've noticed that we don't have a lot of gay and lesbian students at this school, at least, not ones as braves as you to come to terms with their sexuality," Chiron leaned forward across his desk. "I'm proud of you, Nico."

"Uh," Nico said. "Well thanks,"

"You don't sound too pleased, have I upset you?" Chiron asked, lacing his fingers together and giving Nico that analytical stare of someone who had been in his field as long as he had.

"No, not at all," Nico recounted. "I—uh, I'm just not sure why everyone's proud of me. It's not like I'm serving the country or anything like that,"

Chiron laughed, it was a warm sort of braying laugh that slightly reminded Nico of a horse, which made him smile. "That's true, I'm sorry. Most of the kids I find in your situation need a little encouragement, but I see that you don't," He leaned back in his chair. "It was presumptuous of me to think that maybe you were a little down because of the other students, I know that high school is—"

"A really hard place, yeah, yeah. Mr. Mann, I'm done with high school, all my finals are over, all I have left to do is prom and I'll be out of here. I could care less what a few of the more immature numbskulls around here think."

"That's another thing I wanted to talk to you about," Chiron said. "I want you to know that I've talked to the school board on your behalf, you can bring anyone to prom you want and the school'll have no problem with it."

Nico laughed. "I really don't want to be the Moses of this school to usher in the other gays to the Promised Land of equality, Mr. Mann. I don't want to be a poster boy for everyone getting along, if you haven't noticed I've never tried to cause much of a stir around here,"

"Nico," Chiron shook his head. "even if this were like that think about what you're saying, there are kids out there who don't have it as together as you seem to, come kids out there can't cope with who they are, that's why I'm proud of you, because as much as no one seems to understand it's okay to be gay, to be you."

"Being gay isn't being me," Nico sighed. "I understand what you mean, but Mr. Mann things would be a lot better if people understood that just because someone is attracted to other people of the same sex they don't suddenly become this whole different person, everyone keeps telling me how proud they are, and how they support me," He stopped. "I'm sorry, I sound ungrateful."

"No you don't," Chiron smiled. "I want to hear how you feel,"

"It's just, I don't want to seem different," Nico said. "I'm happy now, I'm as happy as I've ever been, and Percy—"

"Percy? Someone you're interested in?"

"No—well, yes, very much, but he's got a girlfriend, even if he's confused about liking guys because I kissed him yesterday, and it was, like, the best kiss in recorded history of kisses, and then last night his mom caught me sneaking into his room and she's cool with him being confused but he doesn't know I know, and listen to me I'm rambling," Nico stopped himself. "Oh my God how do you do that?"

"What? How do I get you talking?" Chiron asked. Nico nodded, he felt like telling this man everything about himself. "I think it's the wheelchair, before my accident kids just came in here and sort of shrugged their shoulders, it disarms people and makes me seem easier to talk to, that's why I'm here though, Nico, so talk."

Nico opened his mouth, and then the school bell rang. "Oh God, I have to get to class,"

"I had you pulled from class already," Chiron said. "As much as you say you don't want to be a martyr I think we all need someone to talk to, to tell our deepest secrets and regrets to. Your friends, well, sometimes they just seem like they could care less, right?" He smiled. "I know, I've been there, when my wife died and I was paralyzed from the waist down I tried to tell some of my best friends, but they just kept clapping me on the shoulders and telling me everything was going to be okay. But I didn't want to hear how okay everything was going to be, I wanted someone to be real with me," He ran a hand through his hair. "It would have been more difficult for you if you would have come out sooner, but I think till you come to complete terms with it yourself it will still be pretty hard for you, even without the taunting. So," He said. "What's this Percy like?"

"It's a little weird talking about this to a teacher," Nico said with a nervous chuckle.

"Don't think of me as a teacher right now; think of me as a sounding board."

"I mean, he's a really great guy," Nico thought. "And he's been just so wonderful,"

"I hope when Percy's mother found you in his room you were at least being safe," Chiron looked scholarly suddenly. "You know the prevalence of HIV and AIDS in young teens now is staggering—"

"We weren't having sex," Nico said. "Percy lets me cling to him, I mean he lets me like hold on to him, and hug him."

"Kiss him?" The question was said with a raised eyebrow.

"No, he doesn't seem to like that, well I mean I didn't think he did. It's all happened so fast," He shook his head. "I wish he liked me like I like him,"

"It sounds like he might," Chiron said. "You want to be with him, you should try it, he might like it, being with you."

"Ugh! If only it were that easy, Mr. Mann,"

"While we're in here you can call me Chiron," The psychologist smiled. "It's a technique that familiarizes us so you feel more comfortable, why isn't it that easy?"

"He's got a girlfriend, and they've been together since sophomore year,"

"I see,"

"And I mean Annabeth, that's his girlfriend, and I talk, and she understands that I really like Percy, but still."

"Wait, he's got a girlfriend, but he basically treats you like you two were more intimate than friends?" Chiron asked. "And you're okay with that?"

"No! Yes—I don't know. I want so much more and I just can't seem to stick to the rules he worked out for us." Nico sighed. "It's been four days, FOUR DAYS. I had my head screwed on right, he's just supposed to be a friend, I told him I could handle this,"

"But you can't,"

"I can't, I'm in love with him."

"Nico, a lot of kids your age think they're in love, what this is most likely is a heavy infatuation brought on by raging hormones,"

"You're positive?" Nico asked dryly. "That's what I'm feeling? Hormones?"

Chiron smiled. "I apologize again, I belittled your emotions,"

"Yeah," Nico said. "I've had crushes before, alright?"

"Granted," Chiron laughed. "You're an interesting young man, Nico. I'm sorry to have wasted your time,"

"No, you didn't," Nico shook his head. "I do feel a lot better, I don't know what I'm going to do about Percy, if I try to get him to like me I'm afraid that it'll push him away from me and make him regret even owning up to the fact that he _might_ have an attraction to other guys, but if I don't do anything at all he'll just get over it and never think about it again."

Chiron wheeled around his desk. "The only thing I can tell you is that you should talk to him, let him know that if he feels anything at all for you he should tell you." Nico stood up, feeling like his short session with the handi-capable man was over. "You're a smart young man, Nico, I can tell that, and I know that you'll be able to figure this out. If you ever want someone to talk to I'm here, and I promise I won't assume that students need my help anymore, you've helped me see that."

Nico smiled and shook the man's hand. "Thank you,"

"No problem, use your free time wisely," Then he waved him out of the office. Nico sighed as he left, at least he'd set one person straight about his situation. His friends got it, Nico wasn't in your face about his sexuality, then again he'd never really experienced much. Oh but that kiss, his lips tingled at the thought of it. How could he tell Percy that he had overheard more than he let on? He passed the gym, and smiled when the very same Percy waved at him from weight room, a lifting class. Nico stood there for a moment, just sort of appreciating Percy as he spotted Grover, an unlikely weight lifter, but Percy was persuasive and there wasn't a lot of things those two didn't do together.

"Hey stranger," Nico turned around on his heels, standing there with vibrant red hair and a brilliant smile was Aaron from The Ball Stops Here.

"Oh my God, what're you doing here?" Nico asked with a laugh and Aaron ventured a hug.

"My younger brother is a freshman here, he lives with our Dad, I just came to pick him up early," He pulled back. "I didn't know this was your school." Then he looked over Nico's shoulder. "Stalking? That's a little creepy,"

"I'm not stalking him," Nico said as they walked forward, Percy gave him a strange stare and he shrugged but kept up with Aaron passing by the gym. "I was walking out of the counselor's office,"

"Seeing the school counselor now, then?"

Nico rolled his eyes. "No, he called me into his office. I'm like the only gay kid around here or something and he wants me to like pioneer the path for the others, I said no."

"Understandable," Aaron laughed. "You're not the type to have rainbows and unicorns following you everywhere." Nico laughed with him. "Well since you're _definitely_ not stalking him, any news about Percy?"

"I do have some," Nico said with a smile, and then he proceeded to tell him all about his past week and Aaron listened on with a thoughtful look.

"He wants you,"

"What, really?" Nico asked.

"No, not really," Aaron smirked. "But he could, you have to play your hand right."

"What do you mean?" Aaron waved at a young man through the window of a classroom. The kid who was packing his bag in the room quickly said something to his teacher and handed the woman a note, then he was making his way to the door.

"Hey, bro!" The young man said as soon as he was in the hallway, he had the same red hair, cut in the same style as Aaron's, and their icy blue eyes matched as well. He was perhaps fourteen, maybe a little younger but he was already on his way of being taller than Nico.

"Hey, troublemaker, have a good day?" Aaron asked.

"Sucked! God, we had a pop quiz in American History," The younger redhead stopped. "Hey, you're Nico di Angelo,"

"Yeah," Nico sighed. "Rumors travel fast around the school," He said to Aaron.

"Oh no, I didn't hear any rumors about you, just that you're gay, I'm cool with that, so is Aaron," Nico looked surprised.

"What? I don't keep things from Cody," Aaron shrugged. "He likes girls though, right Cody?" The younger teen blushed deeply, highlighting his hair. "He's also still, shy. Cute, right?"

"Right." Nico said dryly. "You were saying?"

"Oh yeah, you have to get him in a situation where he feels something way more overwhelming than friendship for you, get _him_ to kiss _you_. I've dealt with guys like Percy, the nice guy who isn't opposed to having the gay friend, most of the time that's just what they are, but there's always the special case where that guy thinks if he's nice enough to a gay kid maybe they'll come on to him."

"I've kissed him twice!" Nico said.

"Did he yell and scream?" Nico asked. "Or was he calm and collected?" Before Nico could answer he Aaron interjected, "I bet he didn't do either, I bet he got flustered and said something along the lines of you not doing that again, but he didn't yell it, I bet he was smiling like he couldn't believe you did it."

"I—uh, yeah. It was kind of like that."

"Bingo. The problem is he's coming to terms with this right about now, having you in his face all the times is making him feel all kinds of things, and if that girl he was with is as demanding as she looked," Nico chuckled. "Exactly, then maybe he'll start looking for comfort somewhere else, you just have to be gracious, and you have to be there for him, and above all else you can't try to hard. No more you kissing him, start sleeping in your own bed again, he'll miss you."

"I think I can handle that," Nico smiled as he walked Aaron and Cody to the door.

"I feel sorry whatever guy you're talking about, bro." Cody laughed.

"You be quiet, or I'll find that Shayla girl and see if she has a prom date," Again Cody blushed. "Anyway," He turned back to Nico. "You save a dance for me at the prom, one of my hags asked me to come with her so I'll be the one in the blue and white Armani with the skinny tie."

"Sure," He smiled. "Bye Aaron, bye Cody, it was nice to meet you,"

"Bye, Nico." They both said and were soon on their way to the parking lot, Aaron talking animatedly and Cody still blushing furiously. Nico smiled and turned, it was almost time for his last class.

"Hey you guys wanna go see a movie or something?" Percy asked. School had been over for the last hour or so and they were still in the school parking lot waiting on Juniper to get out of her band class.

"A movie Percy?" Annabeth asked. "We have to go get facials and manipedis,"

"You don't care about that stuff," Percy smiled. "Come on, we haven't done anything in a long time."

"I care about it when I want our pictures to be perfect," Annabeth said and she sighed, leaning her head against his chest, he kissed the top of her hair and Nico wished that were him.

"You don't need to do anything, our pictures'll be fine,"

"Fine isn't good enough," She pushed away. "I'm sending these to my Mom,"

"Ouch," Rachel said. Everyone knew about Annabeth's father's falling out with her mother. The woman was a genius, like her daughter, she had always put work before her relationship and that ended it after a good twenty-five year run. The woman had left without a word to either her daughter or her ex-husband and Annabeth was still pretty sore about the whole subject.

"Alright, go have your girl's day, me and Nico and Grover'll do something," Percy said good naturedly.

"Can't, man. Juniper's mom is doing my suit alterations today," Grover said. "And then her Dad is going to take me golfing, I kind of think we're getting really serious."

"Golfing?" Nico said with a smile. "That does sound serious," There was a laugh all around. "Hey, I've got no life; I'll go see a movie with you, Perce."

"My one true friend!" Percy smiled and put an arm around the curly haired youth, Annabeth didn't look particularly happy about it, but she kept her mouth closed. Nico shrugged out from underneath the arm but still laughed.

"Well I do what I can." So that's how they ended up at the movie theatre at seven to see the newest Harry Potter movie, they might have stayed out a little later, but with Nico still staying at their house Sally preferred them to be back earlier than eleven.

The movie, they found, was really rather good, the comedy was overextended, and some of the scenes weren't very true to the book, but the seven previous had strayed as well so that wasn't so much minded. All in all they both rather liked it.

"You wanna go get something to eat?" Percy asked looking at his watch, it was barely ten.

"Sure, Dad gave me some money today," Nico followed Percy to the car and stemmed the urge to just hold hands with him. As difficult as it was he reminded himself that Percy wasn't _his_ per se, and that he had never been his, there was a time before he was even allowed to do any handholding with him. He smiled and shook his head, ducking into the seat.

"Taco Bell?" Percy asked.

"Hell no," Nico laughed. "That'd be like going to a noxious gas camp with you, how about McDonald's?"

"Sure," Percy smirked, then his smile grew wider and he locked the windows.

"You didn't," Nico glared.

"Oh, I did." Percy said with that mischievous smile of his.

"Percy you're sick!" Nico yelled laughing, and opening his door to let the car air out.

"You were the one who brought it up," Percy chuckled.

"Oh God it burns!" Nico dramatized, mimicking his own death. The taller brunet laughed harder as Nico closed the door and he turned the car over. "You're horrible,"

"You love it,"

"You're an idiot,"

"You love _me_."

"I'll _hurt_ you," Nico said and crossed his arms. "Now you're paying for my meal too."

"Harsh. You eat for like three bucks, oh what will I do?" Percy smiled as they pulled out of the parking lot.

"Touché, you bastard." Nico smirked. They made their way to McDonald's with small talk and radio play keeping them entertained. Nico liked to sing when he thought no one could hear him, and Percy thought the young man had a nice voice, even if he would only sing over a whisper when a song he liked came on, and that wasn't very often considering Percy kept it on the Pop station, but every once in a while an alt rock song found its way over the airwaves.

"You like Breaking Benjamin, right?"

"They're okay," Nico said.

"Oh excuse me, they're not a hardcore cello band," Percy laughed.

"Hey, Apocolyptica is awesome; you shut your whore mouth." Percy laughed harder and Nico smiled. "You'd like them if you could stop listening to this crap," He said about the song on the radio, Nico wasn't sure who it was but it sounded exactly like the same one that had been on a minute ago.

"Oh come on, you don't like Kesha?"

"Is that her name? Her music is everywhere," Nico rolled his eyes.

"I bet you've never even listened to it." Percy smiled and turned the obnoxious song up.

"I can't understand her!" Nico shouted, but Percy just kept laughing, he pulled into the restaurant with the song going as loudly as it could, slapping Nico's hand away when he attempted to turn it down. "I HATE YOU SO MUCH!" Nico shouted, the driver sung along with a grin on his face that stretched from ear to ear. He quickly turned the radio down to place an order, all the while Nico glared at him.

"Oh please," Percy pulled forward. "You couldn't hate me,"

"Just because that's true doesn't mean you won't get hurt," Nico said. "Your mommy isn't around this time either."

"Actually she and Paul are out for the night," They stopped at the first window and he paid. "Some kind of date or something," Nico looked at him and laughed because the young man didn't seem to happy about that.

"Does that upset you?" He wondered.

"They're married, what do they need to go on dates for?" Percy asked and Nico smiled.

"They're trying to keep it romantic," He told him. "You know, everything is always better when you're dating."

"Oh don't tell me that," Percy laughed as they pulled into the next window. "I can hardly keep Annabeth happy as it is,"

"I have nothing to say about that," Nico decided as his friend set the food aside.

"You're not jealous of Annabeth are you?" Percy asked with a big smile on his face.

"No Perseus," Nico said. "I enjoy watching you make-out with your girlfriend," Nico deadpanned. Percy reached across and gripped Nico's cheeks.

"Cute," He said in a singsong voice.

"Yes, I'm cute, thank you." Nico still sounded quite unhappy.

"Aw, Neeks you're not really jealous are you?" But when he received the glare from Nico he knew it to be true. "Poor guy, at least I'm sleeping with you…kind of."

"Oh, that reminds me, I think I'm sleeping alone tonight," They pulled into Percy's house.

"Really? Sick of me already?"

"Definitely not," Nico smiled. "Come on, let's go," Percy turned the car off and locked the doors as soon as they were out, Nico had the food in hand and they made their way into the house. Percy's phone rang.

"Hey mom," He said. "Yeah, we made it home," He paused and then looked annoyed. "Fine," He gave Nico the phone. "Here, she says you wouldn't lie to her,"

"Sally…?" Nico asked.

"Sorry, honey, but I know my son too well. What are you two really doing, if it's anything dirty you can just say you're cleaning the dishes," Nico laughed.

"No, we're not cleaning the dishes, Sally, I'm not sure Percy wants to clean them just yet,"

"Well, be persistent, I think he likes you." Then she paused. "I'm not sure how I feel about you just giving up your first kiss like that, you should've made him work for it."

"And how would I have done that?" Nico asked.

"Oh no, I'm not giving you any fuel young man, there might be some truth behind my son's words." Nico smiled.

"Well, when we do get the dishes clean I'll tell you all about it,"

"Just be careful, those kinds of things need a tender touch" Sally said. "Now what are you really doing?"

"We just got back in, I think we're going to bed soon,"

"You sound eager,"

"I swear we're not going to do anything." Nico said. "I'm sleeping in my own bed tonight."

"Percy didn't kick you out did he?"

"No, Sally,"

"Oh, I was going to say he had no right, he promised you could. What, you get tired of him already?" The young man rolled his eyes.

"No, Sally, I'm actually in love with your son," She made a squeeking sound and Nico smiled, and this time Percy rolled his eyes, but his cheeks tinged pink.

"I love hearing that, you know he and Annabeth haven't said that to each other?"

"I know, hopefully we'll get all these dishes washed before he and Annabeth even get their fingers in the water."

"I think I figured out the analogy," Percy said. "Could you please stop saying it?" Nico laughed.

"Get back to your date, Sally, we're fine."

"Oh Paul's in the bathroom, we'll be back around two maybe. I got an invitation to your Dad's wedding today! I can't wait," Nico laughed. "Oh, he's coming back, I'd better go. Bye Nico,"

"Bye Sally,"

"Love you both,"

"We love you too," Nico smiled and closed the phone. "Your mom is crazy,"

"You're telling me something I already know," Percy chuckled. They ate over some late night television and Nico yawned as the Adult Swim line up reached its twelve o'clock marker.

"I think I'm headed to bed," Nico said. "We still have school in the morning."

"Yeah, okay." Percy turned the television off and they began making their way to the bedrooms. Nico walked past Percy's room and opened the guest door, he turned and smiled at the expression on Percy's face.

"What?" He asked.

"I don't know, I guess I didn't think you were serious," Percy said, his eyebrows drawn together.

"Oh, yeah. Well good night, Perce," He took a step.

"It's just weird you know?" Percy said and Nico smiled to himself. "I kind of got used to you being there, is that weird?"

"Not in the least, I like sleeping with you," Nico smiled.

"Oh, okay." The shorter brunet took another step. "I didn't do anything wrong did I?"

"No, Percy, you're amazing," Nico said and leaned against the doorframe, the look on Percy's face was absolutely priceless. "Anything else?"

"I don't want to say it, it'll sound weird," Percy said, his arms were crossed.

"Say it," Nico prodded.

"You won't laugh?"

"If I said it to you, would you laugh?" Nico asked.

"Yeah," Percy replied.

"Ah, well I'm better at these things than you, say it, I won't laugh."

"You…haven't tried to hug me or anything crazy like that since we left school." Percy said, his cheeks burning red. "It sounded weird." Nico walked forward and put his arms around Percy's neck, pulling him closer and hugging him to shoulder, being he was quite a bit shorter than Percy.

"Good night, Percy," Nico breathed in Percy's ear and he let go just enough so that his face was four inches away from the older teen's, who's eyes darted away.

"Good—good n—night, Nico," He said and Nico noticed that Percy's arms were around his waist, he went for another embrace and he felt Percy's breath on his neck, he smiled again and turned away, walking into the guest room and throwing himself on the bed. He had to make sure to thank Aaron, and he fell asleep with a smile on his face. The clock on the guestroom shelf read two-forty when Nico heard it. The knob of his door was turning and he lay there, completely still. His blankets were pulled back and someone sank into the bed beside him.

" _Please be asleep,_ " He heard Percy whisper and he gave one of his famous mock-snores, his friend relaxed and settled in beside him, pulling Nico in close. " _My head is messed up,_ " He continued to whisper so silently Nico strained to hear. " _I couldn't get to sleep,_ " He relented and in the dark Nico felt hope flickering into his chest. " _This is so stupid, we're just friends, right_? _Then you went and kissed me, it was like you gave me a cold or something, instantly I just caught what you had,_ " Nico rolled his eyes, Percy wasn't very poetic. " _Oh God, what am I going to tell Annabeth? What am I going to tell my Dad? He's going to kill me,_ "

The slighter of the two turned around completely and settled. "Shut up and go to sleep," Nico laughed sleepily, and then he closed his eyes and fell back asleep. The next time he woke up it was by the alarm Nico had set, he found that Percy was gone, and for some reason that left him feeling sort of hollow. Sitting up he rubbed his eyes, Hades had kicked him out for the better part of three days and it was probably drawing nearer till it was time for Nico to go home. He opened the door.

"Oh, hey Nico…" Percy had a toothbrush falling out of his mouth and hand poised to open the door. "I was coming to wake you up." Nico smiled his feelings of hollowness forgotten as soon as they had come on.

"Oh, I thought maybe you were coming to get back in bed with me." Immediately Percy blushed.

"You, uh, remember that, huh, I thought you were sleep."

"You thought I was sleep when I heard you talking to your mom the other night too," Nico said.

"Nico—"

"Wait, wait," Nico continued. "If I know you then I know this is killing you, you're no good at working stuff like this out. So how about this, I'll pretend like last night didn't happen if you can't tell me that you have some kinds of feelings for me that aren't more than friendly."

"I—I—"

"You don't have to answer immediately," Nico smiled. "Prom's tomorrow, and we won't talk about it till after you and Annabeth have your day."

"Holy shit! Annatbeth!"

"I just have to know something," Nico said. "You love Annabeth, don't you?"

"Yeah, I mean, I do," He put a hand on his forehead. "That's what I mean, it's confusing. I love her, but the other day you made me realize that I—"

"That you?" Nico asked and pulled Percy closer., he swallowed the toothpaste in his mouth and choked, his cheeks horribly red.

"We can talk about this later, right?"

"Right," Nico smiled and let go of Percy, who quickly turned and went back to the bathroom. Nico continued smiling as he made his way into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Paul,"

"Morning, Nico," Paul smiled sipping his coffee with the newspaper in hand. "Sally tells me you did a real number on Percy,"

"I kind of kissed him," Nico said.

"Kind of?"

"Okay, I basically shoved my tongue down his throat, and now I think he likes me too, cause he definitely just swallowed toothpaste trying not to say it."

"So he can't come to terms with it," Paul wondered and Nico poured himself a cup of coffee.

"I don't know, he's having trouble I think with the concept of being able to like more than one gender." He grabbed the milk from the fridge and the sugar from the cupboard.

"A problem most young men have," Paul said. "Most men have probably, personally I'm not attracted to men," Nico laughed as he drank his coffee.

"It happens," Percy laughed. "You're a perfect match for Sally anyway,"

"Thank you, dear," Sally smiled as she walked into the kitchen in a robe. She really was pretty, her hair was long and straight till the ends, which curled around her shoulders. She and Percy shared the same eyes, but she told Nico over and over that Percy looked more like his father. She leaned in and kissed Paul. "Good morning, sweetheart,"

"Good morning, my love," Paul smiled.

"Where's Percy?"

"Brushing his teeth," Nico said.

"He wasn't in his room last night," Sally thought aloud.

"Yeah, he came and found me because I got some good advice and made him chase me a little bit, the effects worked a little sooner than I thought they would, though."

"So you're using your wiles on my son?" Sally smiled.

"Only a little," Nico took another drink of his coffee and drained it, it wasn't Rachel's brew, nowhere close, but it would do. "I should go get ready for school."

"You want something to eat before you guys go?" Sally called after him.

"I'm sure Percy does, but I'm fine," He ducked into the spare room and grabbed his towel, he headed off to the shower feeling much lighter than he had in weeks, even lighter than when Percy had attached his little "hug me" addendum.

But in just the other room Percy Jackson felt a weight on his chest, his thoughts were muddled and he felt like a mess.

_Sixth Sense, ESP_


	7. Chapter 7

Percy knew things. He did, people equated him to being this big guy who was into sports and girls and nothing else. Don't get him wrong, he loved sports, and he loved girls. But he knew other things too; like he knew what he was feeling right now shouldn't be felt by people, a sort of duality. It had started the moment he realized just _how_ much Nico liked him—loved him, whatever—and it only continued to escalate after his younger friend had kissed him. Percy realized why it had unsettled him so much, both times, because it had taken everything for him to push Nico away. He didn't think he was gay, he thought of the previous Summer when they had all gone down to the beach and Annabeth had been in her all white two piece, and he realized that _that_ image still turned him on.

But then his mind drifted to all the times he had seen Nico undress, especially during that same Summer, the sun had turned Nico's skin a healthy bronze color that made his vibrant green eyes so much more noticeable. Even back then Nico hadn't been very big, back when everyone was relatively the same height Nico was still much shorter than them. Percy smiled at the memory, but it too incited some feelings of arousal in him, for that entire Summer he, Nico and Grover and a lot of their other guy friends had been shirtless mostly. He tried to imagine what it would be like with Grover, but he found himself slightly more creeped out, then he tried to think of the Stoll twins, and while it was better it wasn't the same as the thought of him and Nico.

Suddenly his phone vibrated. He opened it, and saw that Annabeth had texted him. ' _I can't wait for prom! I love you!_ ' It read.

' _Love you too,_ ' Percy put, and he meant it. ' _You're going to be the most beautiful girl at prom_ ,' Then he put his phone away and looked at himself in the mirror. His hair was like his mother's straight to a point and then curly on the ends, two brown eyes, a nose, a mouth, and a chin sprouting one or two hairs. He still looked like the same Percy, and a thought passed through his head.

_If Nico hadn't kissed me I'd be alright_ , he looked at his reflection even more. He was wearing his favorite blue shirt, it had a large graphic of all kinds of different fish swimming, the fish were colorful and with the blue of the shirt, periwinkle for all intents and purposes, it was just a very fun thing to wear, his jeans were a darker navy and his sneakers were all white. Yes, he very much looked like the same Percy he could always remember himself being. He couldn't see the hype around himself, when he looked at Nico he saw a nice looking guy, he had never thought much about it, but when something is thrown in your face it makes you notice all the details. Nico had a nice smile, he had—dare he say it—pretty eyes, Percy couldn't see himself having thoughts about this like Grover. Grover was too much like him, he just thought they were ordinary enough guys lucky enough to get with two of the finest girls at their school. Maybe he had a type of guy he liked, he thought to himself. But it was still weird that he liked _any_ guy at all.

He sighed and his door was opened. "You ready to go, Perce?" Nico smiled at him and Percy nodded. He knew then that even if Nico hadn't kissed him with their relationship having changed the way he changed it eventually he would have started seeing the young man in a new light. As something desirable. A part of his heart fluttered when Nico reached out and took his arm with a smile. "This is still okay, right?"

"Oh, yeah," Percy said, and he thought maybe he said it too quickly, and he let Nico pull him into the living room where his mother and Paul sat together on the couch, her feet in his lap and both of them were intent on watching the morning news. Sally looked up at them and gave Percy a knowing smile, where the young man only rolled his eyes.

"Have fun at school," She said. "And make sure you at least do what we talked about, Percy." He knew what she meant, he could either set Nico straight and tell him he wanted to keep his relationship or he had to break it off with Annabeth. To be truthful he didn't want to do either, there was so much potential with where this thing with Nico and he were going, with Nico he had never been anything but happy, and he knew that the young man liked talking things out, he didn't walk off in huffs mad because Percy _just didn't get it_. But he had been with Annabeth for the last two years, and sure they had their fights, and sure she was leaving him in a couple months, and yeah the long distance would be hard, but he loved her.

"You alright, Percy?" Nico asked. "You're really white," Percy looked in his car mirror, not exactly sure how he got to his car in the first place. His skin was quite pallid, and there were small beads of sweat on his forehead.

"I'm okay," Percy said. He had to face someone today, how could he be the one to break someone's heart? He'd seen both Nico and Annabeth cry, the thought made him grow infinitely more sad because both were such strong people. He couldn't break up with Annabeth the day before prom, but Nico was holding his hand while he drove, and their fingers were interlaced. He wondered how to himself if maybe he should have been more clear from the beginning. He hadn't minded Nico giving him a friendly, or maybe less than friendly, hug every once in a while, and he hadn't minded Nico cuddling up to him while they slept, but their agreement had taken on a life all its own and now he thought that maybe it was the way that it was supposed to be. "Am I a horrible person?" Percy asked as they stood at a stoplight.

"What, no." Nico said. "Why do you ask?"

"Because this is wrong," Percy said. "Me starting to like you, like this," He held their hands up. "Me still being with Annabeth while you and I are doing this, it's wrong." He sighed and the light changed. "I don't want to hurt anybody," Nico ran his thumb along Percy's knuckles but he held a grim expression. "I hurt you already, though, haven't I?"

"I'm ready for the fate that you'll choose Annabeth," Nico sighed. "I started thinking maybe there might be something between us, and I was so happy because I thought maybe, finally, I had won you over. I felt bad because it's almost like I tricked you into liking me," He smiled here. "I'm sorry about that,"

"You didn't trick me," Percy said in an exasperated tone. "I knew what you were doing, I let you, then I didn't help the situation out at all by being your freaking pretend boyfriend." He gripped Nico's hand tighter. "I really do like you,"

"And I love you," Nico sighed. "But it's always been you and Annabeth, that's how it should be." The rest of ride was rode in silence, and when they finally made it to the school Nico was the first to let go of their hands. The look Nico gave him tugged at Percy's heartstrings, but the younger tee seemed to remember himself and he gave Percy a bright smile. "Let's go, higher education awaits us."

"'Higher education'?" Percy smiled, trying to lighten the situation as well. "It's the day after the day after finals, basically cleanup work." Nico gave him another smile, and what might have been a chuckle, or what might have been a grunt of agreement. Percy could still feel the knife of sadness puncturing his gut, for the second time in two weeks he had gotten Nico's hopes up only to dash them inadvertently. "Nico," He said, his eyes sweeping the parking lot and seeing that it was mostly empty, no one was looking in their direction, most people had already headed into school. The boy looked at him with eyes that were slightly glossed over, he was holding on strongly, he wouldn't cry. Then Percy grabbed the brunet youth by the wrist and pulled him into an electrifying kiss. Nico stiffened and Percy felt hot tears rolling down the smaller teen's face, but he pressed his fevered lips down hard enough to crack Nico's chapped ones. Finally the darker youth fell prey to Percy's mouth and renewed the kiss with a vigor that the taller of the two hadn't thought he possessed.

Percy was reluctant to end such a kiss, it trumped just about every one he had shared with Annabeth at even her most passionate. Quickly he stole one last press of Nico's lips, his own eyes wet with a sort of unseen grief. "Percy…" Nico swallowed, his voice shook as did his head.

"Just so you know," Percy said, his voice low and gruff with a lust he had never felt in himself. "It just wouldn't be fair to Annabeth, and I don't just say things to hear myself talk. I _do_ like you Nico." He held the Italian boy to his chest and Nico shook with the effort of not sobbing. "I'm so sorry."

"Me too," Nico muttered, and then he pushed away from Percy, and as if he were afraid that the boy would run he pecked him on the cheek lightly. "Thank you, Percy." He said taking in a breath of air. "For everything," Then he adjusted his backpack strap and made his way towards the school without a word. Percy knew that there was no going back to the friendship they had, he wondered how Nico could have ever wanted to be friends with someone like him. A person like Nico who could love so hard and endure so much, hide away all his pain with a smile and then listen to everyone else's less significant troubles with a kind ear. Nico deserved real love, but for some reason he wanted someone like Percy—no, Percy thought, not someone like me, but me.

He watched Nico walk away, he watched him go and he wanted to run up and say he could just let go of his girlfriend, and that he and Nico could be together as long as Nico wanted him. But he just sat there, watching till Nico was gone and he sighed.

"Hi, Perce!" He looked over his shoulder and Annabeth was standing there with a smile on her pretty face. She saw the look on his face and hers took on one of a concerned quality. "Are you alright, honey?"

"Just thinking," Percy said, and she wrapped her arms around him, he hugged her back smelling her strawberry scented hair and the light hint of some French name brand perfume. "You are the best girlfriend I could have ever asked for," He said, his voice thick with emotions.

"Percy?" She looked at him and wiped a tear out of his eye. "What's wrong?"

He kissed her, long and hard, passions left over from the same embrace he had had with Nico but a moment ago. He pressed every bad feeling and unsure thought into it and she nearly crumpled from the power of it. "I love you," Percy said, she looked at him suddenly and her eyes were wide.

"Percy," Her eyes were red now. "Percy you shouldn't say that," She said.

"Why not?" He asked, emotion spilling out of him now. "We've been together this long, why haven't we said it? Tell me you love me, Annabeth."

"You know I do," She said hugging him. "You know I do, Percy!"

"Then why can't you say it?" He asked her, for a moment he was staring down at them, his consciousness extended high above them and he saw a young couple, barely considered adults but too old to be children. He saw his face torn with so many different feelings and he saw her crestfallen at the sudden turn of events all stirred up from some events she had no idea about.

"Percy, I'm leaving after the Summer. You know that, I know that, I don't want this to be any harder than it is," She said looking at him square in the eye. "I just wanted to spend as much time with you as possible without it hurting too much."

There was a surge in his eyes that made her frightened for a moment, then he reigned in his anger. "Is that what we're doing, Annabeth?" He asked, his voice quiet, calm like a sea before the storm. "Are we staying together just to break up?"

"Come with me!" Annabeth said. "Come with me Percy and get a degree in engineering, and then—"

"Then what? What if I don't want to be an engineer, or an architect? Annabeth, I can accept that you're going away, I thought—I thought maybe we would still be able to work." A signal of relief flooded into Annabeth's eyes.

"We can," She said. "I'll see you every chance I get, and you can get a job and I'm sure Paul will help you pay for plane tickets, and we can make it work. It's only four years," She kissed him again, and Percy allowed it, he watched every muscle in her face, watched her kiss him like she had solved everything. The first bell rang and she smiled at him, and he tried to smile back but it felt more like a grimace than it did a smile. They parted ways as their first classes were different and Percy dragged his feet, it wasn't like they were really having class today, it wasn't really like he had to be at school today. He had prom tomorrow, and then the following Saturday was graduation and then his life in mandatory school was forfeit.

He closed his eyes and made his way into Mythology, taught by an old teacher who preferred the students call him Mr. D. Mr. D. was a squat man of middle age, he had a snub nose, rosy cheeks, a balding hair and a glazed look to his eyes, he was easily angered and for the most part let students do as they pleased unless it was evaluation day. "Jackson," He said in his coach's voice, he coached the boy's basketball team and was not Percy's biggest fan because the young man had decided against playing a few days before the season began. "So glad you could join us."

"Sorry I'm late, Mr. D.," Percy said and found his seat next to the already sleeping Grover, bag of games at his feet. Percy sighed and settled into the welcome routine of being ushered from class to class, he was leaving all of this behind, what he had been taught to do for the past twelve years and they just expected him to be okay and just go off to college without any help, without any direction. He saw Annabeth throughout the hallway from time to time and he would take a moment to stop and kiss her, then they would be off again because her classes were all a much higher level than his own, she already had a few college courses under her belt.

He watched her go for the third time since he'd seen her in the hall that day and realized she still hadn't told him she loved him. She implied it, and somehow made her way around it, but she didn't say it. He sighed in resignation and thought that it didn't matter, he would give her the best prom he could, dance whenever she wanted, get drinks, food, whatever she wanted.

When third period came around, the period before lunch, Percy and Grover found themselves free of any class. Their Spanish II teacher had called home sick at the last moment and no substitute had been given, so a woman who normally worked behind a desk in the main office sat with them while Finding Nemo played en espanol, he wondered how Grover would fair about his recent revelations, he didn't seem to mind about Nico, but Percy knew that in truth Grover and Nico were only friends because of him. He had tried to get them to get closer, but the two weren't very similar, now they were good friends, yes, but they normally met only under the circumstances of him bringing them together. "G-man," He said at an audible level, his voice still pretty low so as no one else could eavesdrop. Grover looked over at him thankful for the distraction.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"I, uh, think we need to talk about something," In the dark Percy could see Grover's eyes glean with interest and he motioned the to the back of the classroom. Stealthily the two of them ducked down and made their way towards the empty desks in the back. Quickly Percy told Grover that he had to wait till he was done talking, and then he made him promise that he wouldn't see him in any kind of different light.

"I promise, dude, what's up?" Grover asked with the impatience of someone not used to being hit with such weight as Percy was about to drop on him. So Percy told him about everything, minus the slight molestation on Nico's part to preserve some good in the boy's favor, and besides he knew that Nico had only been curious. He told Grover about Nico's crush, about his pact to be more there for him, about that turning into an affection within days of it being set into effect, he told Grover that he really liked Nico, he told Grover that he and Annabeth had been about to get into a fight and then quickly they semi-resolved the issue. He told Grover about all the kisses and how messed up his head felt, and finally he said, "I can understand if you don't want to talk to me anymore, G-man, I messed up a lot, for everyone."

Grover gave him a serious stare, Percy's tale had taken the better part of the middle of the movie for him to tell. "You serious?" Grover asked after another fifteen seconds past.

"I am," Percy said and he kept his gaze on Grover.

"Does Annabeth know?"

"That I kissed Nico?" Percy asked. "No, and she doesn't need to either."

"Just asking, shit bro," He sighed. "Percy, my Uncle Ferdinand is pretty gay, you 'member, and he's my favorite uncle, I mean he doesn't go into detail about the guys he's with, so I don't give a damn about that, but dude you really like Nico,"

"Yeah," Percy said.

"And you really like Annabeth," Grover said.

"Yes, Grover, thank you for deducing that," Percy replied dryly.

"Calm down, Perce, I'm just trying to keep this all straight," He shook his long, curly hair. "Who do you want more?"

"That's the thing!" Percy said and then quieted his voice as the pseudo-substitute looked in his direction. "I don't know, I don't want to break up with Annabeth, but she's set on going off to school in Cali, and I want us to work, but if she goes away and Nico is here I'm afraid that I might cheat on her with him."

"You think Nico'll let that happen?" Grover asked with a smile. "He'll knock your ass out if you try to kiss him again." Percy thought about that, Nico had been resistant in starting the kiss, but once he had him going he wasn't sure if he would have ever stopped. Nico had known that Percy would be tumult and capricious in his feelings, and he had still given him pursuit, Nico been deterred but somehow the next moment he had been seductive and flippant in his treatment of Percy, observing when the young man seemed drawn to him and turning that aside as if it were the norm and something to be ignored. The way he'd had tossed Percy behind and then come at him full force like a sudden gale of wind had been what had won him over at last. He had come to wanting Nico in but a day's time, all because he missed the feel of him within hours of going to bed alone.

"Thanks, man," Percy said and gave Grover a fist-bump.

"It's whatever, Perce, something like that doesn't define who you are, you're always going to be my boy." Grover said with a toothy grin, Percy returned the smile and they watched the rest of Finding Nemo with a bit of good feeling between the two of them. It lasted till lunch. He sat down at the table with everyone, the Stoll twins, Charles Beckendorf and his girlfriend with the modeling contract Selena Beauregard, Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Juniper, Grover, Annabeth, strangely enough Chris Rodriguez was with them and Charles vouched for him, and then there was Percy himself. He looked around the cafeteria. "Where's Nico?" He asked and mostly everyone just shrugged, except for Rachel who looked around the room as Percy had.

"Maybe his class ran a little long today?" She suggested.

"Yeah," Percy said. "Maybe," Rachel sensed something in Percy's words, but when it came to Nico it was probably best to talk about his life in private. They moved on to other topics, Conner and Travis asking Percy if he'd seen the last big game and Percy tried to lose himself in conversation, every once in a while he would catch a glimpse of someone short with curly hair, or he would see movement out of the corner of his eye and look for Nico, but he couldn't spot him.

After lunch was over Percy attended his next class, and yet Nico was still not in sight. Nowhere in the halls, and even while dressing out for Weight Lifting he kept hoping to see just a glimpse of the boy outside the doors as he had the other day. "Hey, Coach," He said to the gym teacher, the man looked up, his beady eyes hardened and a muscle shirt pulled tight across his broad chest.

"Yeah?" Coach Ferguson asked, the youngest teacher on the faculty he didn't look it in the least, wrinkles shad already begun to form on his square jaw and across his high forehead and a permanent grimace had etched itself across the lines of his mouth.

"Can I head to the office, I need to call my mom to remind her to take her blood pressure medicine, she forgets." He said with sincerity. The Coach gave him a skeptical look and said,

"Yeah, sure, Underwood escort him to the office," Ferguson said turning back to spotting a freshman. "Give me another ten, Faust," He said to the poor youngster who wasn't much slighter than Nico, and Percy knew that the aforementioned wouldn't be able to lift something like that. He and Grover took to the hall and made their way towards the office.

"Percy," Grover said. "Your mom doesn't take blood pressure medicine,"

"I know, but Nico went to Chiron yesterday, and he might be there again today," Nico said and pushed into the office. "Hi," He smiled to the attendant behind desk, she smiled back at him.

"Hello," She said cheerily, putting the phone to her shoulder.

"Is Mr. Mann in?" Percy asked.

"He's with a student," She told him.

"Nico di Angelo?" Percy ventured.

"I—yes," The woman looked slightly shocked. "How did you know that?"

"I'm here to see them both," Percy said. "He's my hall escort," He pointed to Grover who looked just as surprised as the woman. "We'll be going back now…" Then, before she could protest Percy grabbed Grover by the arm and yanked him around the corner. They burst into Chiron's office to find the man sitting behind his desk, Nico lying on a couch in the corner.

"Mr. Jackson, good to see you," Chiron smiled and immediately Percy felt better, he put his good feelings aside and looked at Chiron.

"Hey, sorry," Percy said and went over to the couch. "Nico?" He was met by a light snore. "He's asleep?"

"Yes, he came in here very troubled, we spoke for a while and then I offered him retreat in my office till he felt up to going to classes." Chiron leaned forward on the desk. "Mr. Jackson, may I ask why _you_ ' _re_ here?" Then he glanced behind Percy. "Hello, Mr. Underwood,"

"Hi, Chiron," Nico said bashfully, Chiron made him painfully uncomfortable, but so did all psychologists and psychiatrists. He was afraid they would deem him mentally ill and have him convicted to an asylum for life.

"Well, Percy?" Chiron made it his business to know all the students by name and grade, his mind was such that he had the ability to withhold quite a bit of information without much effort.

"I, uh—well,"

"As eloquent as that is," Chiron smirked.

"Well, I didn't see him at all today, and he missed lunch, I thought…I don't know what I thought, after this morning…"

"Ah, this morning." The older man nodded.

"He told you about that?"Percy asked.

"He told me a lot of things, either way you've come looking for him and here he is." The two of them turned to look at Nico. "Are you going to wake him?"

"Can I?"

"By all means," Percy turned to Nico and he placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. Nico snored lightly and Percy touched him again, finding the sleeping teen's arm to be warm. Nico's eyes fluttered open, and when his pupils focused he looked surprised to see Percy.

"Percy!" Nico said, sitting up on the couch.

"Hey, you alright?" Percy asked.

"I'm fine," Nico said. "Just a little off put, what are you doing here?"

"When you didn't come to lunch I wondered what happened to you," Percy said.

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine, I think I'm going to my last class when the bell rings," He stretched, his eyes were read and Percy wondered if he had been crying. Nico smiled and Percy frowned.

"Stop that," He said. "Don't smile if you don't want to,"

Nico only smiled all the wider. "What else am I going to do?" He asked, on the verge of shedding tears, but he didn't. "Smiling makes me feel better," He sighed, then he blinked. "What is Grover doing here?"

"Trying to keep him out of trouble," Grover said. "We've been gone too long though, Ferguson's going to know we lied." Chiron cleared his throat.

"While I don't encourage lying," He said. "I can write you a note to get back into class excused."

"Thank you, Mr. Mann," Percy said gratefully.

"Yes well, I was young once, not too long ago." He said writing quickly in blocky handwriting. "I'd like you all to head to class though; I have an appointment to keep."

Nico stood up and stretched. "You were going to just let me stay asleep?" He asked.

"I didn't see any reason to disturb you, you know how to operate the door," Chiron smiled and Nico rolled his eyes. "This has been a pleasure gentlemen, but let's go." Chiron wheeled forward and escorted the young men out of the room, handing Percy the note. "Good-bye, have a pleasant time at prom," The woman behind the desk gave them a scandalized glare as they all departed from Chiron's office, and the main office itself. They stood in the hallway then, and Nico looked at Percy with another smile.

"You're sure you're alright?" Percy asked, a hand on his shoulder.

"No," Nico said. "But I'll have to be,"

"Nico…" Percy said and he felt a sadness welling up inside of him again.

"I'll see you after school, Perce," Nico smiled. "I think today's the day to head back home,"

"You're—you can't," Percy said and he reached forward, grabbing him by the shoulders. Nico shrugged out of the embrace and turned around.

"Later, Percy,"

"Wait! You're not mad at me now are you?" Percy asked, his arms still reached forward as if to grab Nico again.

"I'm not mad, Percy," Nico said. "I can't be mad at you, but I can't have you, and I'm trying very hard not miss you, even with you standing right here, I'm trying very hard not to reach out and grab you and kiss you, I want you to be happy, so just don't make this any more difficult for me by looking at me like that," He bit back his words. "I'm sorry, I—I'm not mad at you, alright? I'll see you after class, okay? I promise I'll be better then."

Percy just nodded, and for the second time that day he watched Nico walk away. "Come on, Perce," Grover said and grabbed Percy by the arm. "We missed most of class anyway, Coach is going to be pissed."

"Yeah," Percy said. "Yeah, alright." He followed behind Grover and made his way back to the gym, still wondering about Nico, and silently hoping somehow he could convince him to stay.


	8. Chapter 8

"Why are you going home?" Percy sat on the guest bed watching Nico pack his clothes away. "You said after class you'd feel better."

"I do feel better," Nico said folding a pair of his pants. "I just think I've sort of worn my welcome out." He turned back to his pile of laundry that Sally had washed for him while he was at school; he had to make sure to thank her.

"Worn out your—" Percy bit back a biting comment to tell him how stupid that was and instead he jumped up and grabbed Nico by the hands. "Stay. Please?"

"Percy—"

"If the next words out of your mouth aren't that you'll stay I don't want to hear them," Percy said and Nico sighed. The taller brunet was being incredibly selfish, they had _just_ gone over this, seeing Percy, hearing him, just being around him was a constant reminder that Nico couldn't have him, he looked Percy in the eyes. They were just as pleading as the tone of his voice.

"If I stay you have to stay in your room, and I have to stay in mine," Nico said finally. "Damn it Percy, you just want to see me breakdown completely."

"No," Percy said and he hugged Nico for a moment. "Never that, this is hard for me too," Nico pulled himself into Percy, taking in his scent, his skin forever smelling faintly of the ocean and he hugged into his warmth unable to stop himself. For a moment they were caught in each other's eyes, and then Nico blinked hard.

"We can't keep doing this," Nico announced. "You said it was wrong, you said you didn't want to break anyone's heart, well you keep breaking mine," Percy let go, caught off guard by the omission. "Don't you know I want you? I thought you figured it out, I thought I spelled it out properly for you,"

"Nico," Percy said, his head reeling as he tried to get a hold on the situation unfolding, he just wanted Nico to stay. "Calm down,"

"I can't calm down Percy! You're making me crazy! This isn't me, I don't yell and shout!" Running both hands through his lengthy ink colored hair Nico sighed again, more heavily than the last time. "If you picked Annabeth I can't do this to you, I don't know why I even thought maybe we stood a chance," He closed his eyes. "I told you I'm trying now, can you please try too? Stop messing with my head,"

"You're messing with mine too!" Percy erupted, all efforts of controlling anything left aside and he was angry suddenly at himself, and at Nico for not understanding. "My girlfriend is leaving me, Nico, and she wants us to keep a long distance relationship, and here I am in love with her and agreeing to it like an idiot, and I've got you here telling me you love me, and I'm kind of falling for you too," He gripped Nico's hands again.

"You made your choice Percy," Nico turned his eyes away. "And it was the right one, you owe that much to Annabeth,"

"But she's leaving! I can break up with her after prom if that's what it takes to get someone to just stay with me without all the damn bullshit!" There was a beat of silence and Percy's mouth hung open after the words came out. T Nico just closed his eyes, desire and justice warred on his face.

"Why do you think you want me so suddenly, Percy?" Nico asked, taking a seat on the bed, Percy sat down beside him and leaned his head down on Nico's shoulder. "You got so infatuated with me so suddenly, I can't help but think that I might just be a phase in your head."

"Just wait till after prom,"

"Percy—" But Nico was stopped by a pair of lips against his, Percy was using an unfair advantage and Nico tried his hardest to keep his resolve. "You—can't—" But then his mouth was covered again and as much as he needed to stop it he wanted it to keep going. Slowly but surely his arms wrapped around Percy's neck, and even more slowly Nico pulled him back on the bed. Is this what he felt like, Nico thought to himself, wondering if this is was how Percy had felt when he had first been kissed by Nico, so unequivocally turned on, and yet at the same time the urgent need to stop what was happening tugging at his stomach.

There was no fighting it, and his hands were planted firmly in Percy's hair, tugging pleasantly at the roots and crashing their mouths together so hard he was sure they were connected. "Please," He found himself moaning and Percy was kissing his neck now. "God, Percy, yes, please."

"Nico…" Percy ground out between his teeth, and the young man underneath him instinctively wrapped his legs around his waist. Percy pushed himself up on the bed with one hand held to the right of Nico's head, he used his other hand to reach up under Nico's shirt, the flesh there was soft to the touch and it elicited a most sensuous mewl out of the young Italian. He lifted the shirt over Nico's head and brought his mouth down to kiss the skin that was presented to him, so decadently olive in tone.

"Yours too," Nico said in a breathy voice, all other thoughts put aside for his hormonal lust. Percy sat up and pulled his shirt off, unlike Nico his stomach had a line of dark hair running from the navel down into his jeans, it was the most erotic thing Nico had ever seen and the sight of a shirtless Percy made him bite his lip in anticipation. With their skin touching now there was no longer any room for muted passion, teeth gnashed against teeth in feral kisses, Percy wrapped his mouth around the side of Nico's neck, biting and sucking till what had once been the same color as skin was now a blue-ish black. He smiled at his handiwork and the look of pure exhilaration on Nico's face, and then he was back to his job of keeping Nico's moans silenced with his own mouth.

Denim clothed erections rubbed together, both boys finding the friction to be something to warrant quick pleasure, but even quicker release if pushed for too long, so they spent a while testing each other's limits with the grinding of their hips, teeth still gnashing, but every now and then a true kiss would sprout up and they would find themselves subdued by its affects. They could hardly stifle their moans, ape-like grunts breaking the shuffled silence and Nico felt his jeans become unbuttoned.

"Hey, what do you guys want for dinn—" Percy nearly jumped off of Nico, but he did lose his hand placement and crashed against the boy, lying there between his legs as his mother stared at them, wide eyed and open mouthed. "I—I'm sorry," She said, averting her eyes. "I should have knocked." Then she closed the door almost as quickly as she'd come. For a moment they just started at the spot she had been, blinking eyes filled to the very brim with lust and desire. Vaguely it dawned on them exactly what she had seen, but even with that knowledge Percy was soon back on top of Nico, crushing their lips together again.

"Wait," Nico tried his voice husky and rough.

"Can't, too horny," Percy said and moved his hips such that he thrusted directly into Nico's erectness; it throbbed to back to life immediately and if he had not have bitten down on his tongue Nico would have lost himself to the folds of wanton lust. Percy was a man with a fever, again he was against his counterpart as if his very life depended on it, and again Nico almost lost himself to the sweet tide of pleasure.

"Percy," He pushed back. "Percy we have to stop," To illustrate the gravity of a seventeen year old boy stopping in the act of losing his virginity you must imagine what it might have been like to be Einstein with all the ingredients for the atomic bomb except for one key element, his hand poised to drop it in, and then, suddenly, it disappears from existence. An expression similar to what might have crossed the German genius' face came over Percy's, utter and complete astonishment, a mix of unequaled anger, and a lust so deep it left a hungry glint in his eyes.

" _Right_ now?" Percy asked his voice tense.

"How far did you think we should go?" Nico rebutted, trying desperately to gather his thoughts, he and Percy had been fighting about something…or not fighting, but discussing. An old saying went something to the effect of: it is quite difficult for a man to think with an erection. Nico found that to ring true in just this situation and he swatted through lust filled thoughts to properly gauge the situation. He had almost convinced Percy, the boy he found himself constantly saying he was in love with, to never think of him in a romantic way again. Then said boy had said something to the effect of leaving his girlfriend for him after prom, and after that it was all a haze of carnal filled fury.

"I gotta tell you, Neeks, I was hoping for all the way, man." Percy said looking crestfallen. Nico pecked Percy's lips, the taste of them lingering in his mouth and he had to make sure he had it memorized. Percy again pressed down on him and he accepted it willingly. It seemed for a time they were again about to breech that irreparable bridge, and Nico felt his pants slowly being tugged down when Percy's cell phone rang loudly, jarring the moment yet again.

Percy sought to ignore it, but the steadying pulsating ring of the phone brought a moment of clarity to Nico. "Answer it," He said, his breath caught in his throat and his entire body felt heavy. Percy might have protested, but the incessant ringing stopped for all of ten seconds, and then again it started. He sighed and reached into his pants pocket, straddling Nico's nearly naked hips.

"Hello?" He asked, not looking at the caller ID, instead keeping his eye trained on the boy underneath him with his jeans gathered around his ankles.

"Percy Jackson," Rachel Elizabeth Dare nearly screamed into the phone. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

"What?" Percy asked innocently, but he felt his cheeks tinge red.

"I just called your house; your mother said you and Nico were 'indisposed' at the moment? You better be playing videogames." She sounded pissed, in fact, she sounded downright upset.

"We're not," Percy admitted.

"May I talk to Nico?" The words were bit off as they came out of her mouth and Percy handed Nico the phone, muttering something about her being a cockblock. Nico on the other hand read the name across the screen and cursed under his breath.

"Rachel, hey!" He said in a voice filled with mock cheer.

"Are you naked?" Rachel asked.

"What! No, I have some clothes on," Nico's boxers stared back up at him.

"Nico he's got a girlfriend," Rachel emphasized. "Hold on," She said to him. "Venti, lots of carmel, lots of whipped cream,"

"Are…are you ordering coffee?" Nico asked.

"Yeah, you should see the looks I'm getting," Her voice was momentarily full of mirth. "You should be here, considering that we have a fake date tomorrow, tell me right now, are you sucking face with Percy Jackson?"

Very quietly Nico said, "Not at the moment,"

"I knew it," She sighed. "My 'boys are being idiots' senses were going off a lot louder than normal, what are you thinking Nico, at least let him get properly broken up with Annabeth first, that was the plan remember?"

"I know," Nico said and he tried to roll over, but Percy was very much not moving out of the way. "I'm a horrible person who should rot in a far off cell somewhere, but Rachel I swear to you this isn't my fault this time,"

"Not your fault?" Rachel asked, and by the sound of it whichever coffee shop she was in it was definitely crowded around her and she was not adhering to the volume ratio appropriate for such a conversation, in fact Nico was sure the entire place could hear her. "You've been messing with a guy who gets less action than a third string American soccer team Nico, if he didn't jump your bones the moment you turned him on then he just wouldn't be a guy,"

"I think I kind of resent that," Nico said, and Percy leaned forward so his mouth was on top of Nico's and next to the phone speaker.

"Rachel, we're going to let you go," He said with a little difficulty, placing light kisses on Nico's lips. "We were in the middle of something kind of important."

"Perseus Jackson if you hang up on me I swear to every god in existence—" With a sort of finality he snapped his phone shut and turned it on silent mode. "I'm still hard," He announced with no preamble, and Nico very much saw that, he saw how his first comparison to Percy's size had been quite mistaken, that then he must have only been at half-mast, but now, staring him in the face of the light of the day through denim was something that outranked Nico by perhaps two maybe three inches, and whose girth was also unexpected.

"Percy…" Nico said, hardly able to tear his eyes away from the outlined shape. "We cannot do this, this is so fucking counterproductive to everything we've both said for half of this entire day."

"You're still hard too," Percy groaned, gripping the boy through his boxers. "I'll take it slow,"

"Percy you said it earlier, and I agree with you we can't!" Nico tried, he in took a sharp breath of air at the touch.

"Yes," Percy countered. "We can. You said you wanted me, what other reason is there for us not to?"

"We don't have protection," Nico purported, trying anything because he knew he personally couldn't stop himself, and he definitely couldn't stop Percy. "We promised we'd be safe." Then as soon as he said it light danced in Percy's eyes and he hopped up off of the boy, within half a minute he was back, out of breath and slightly panting, but back.

"Paul got this stuff for me," He dropped his spoils on the bed. Condoms of every variety and color, taste and make along with a small bottle of lubrication pooled on top of the bed together. Nico looked at the small treasure of prophylactics and swallowed a lump in his throat.

"What about Annabeth?" Nico asked in a quiet voice, using his trump card; it stunned Percy for a minute, his eyes clouded over with guilt, then he spoke evenly, keeping his own voice measured.

"She's going away," He said. "And she's leaving come Hell or high water, that's her choice and this is mine." Then he stopped himself and a look of empathy crossed his face. "Unless you don't want to do this, you personally, without anyone else in mind if _you_ don't want to then we won't." Percy stared at Nico for a long minute and he was sure his phone was going off, and he knew that his mother was trying desperately to talk Paul into knocking on the door to give him and Nico a lecture on the right and wrong times to be doing this sort of thing, and, he even supposed there was the distinct possibility of Rachel Elizabeth Dare pounding on his door, pushing past his mother, and throttling him to death, but if Nico agreed to this then none of that mattered to him.

"God I want to," Nico started.

"Then let's do it," Percy quipped.

"But—"

"But what? Is this about anyone but you?" Percy asked. "You worry too much about all the little things, we'll work them out when we come to them, I want you right now."

"That's my line," Nico said. "At least lock the door then," Percy nodded with a grin that could shame the Cheshire Cat's on his face and with lightning speed the door was locked, and again he was on top of Nico.

"God help what I am about to unleash," Nico muttered.

"Shut up," Percy said and shimmied his own pants off, throwing them to the floor.

"Have you ever put one of those on?" Nico asked as Percy took a condom between his teeth and ripped the wrapper.

"No, haven't had a reason," Percy said. "Here, take off your boxers," Nico blushed and Percy smiled. "I'm taking mine off too," He slipped his cotton shorts down and as he did he grinned even wider. Percy smirked, "Like what you see?" he laughed feeling Nico poking him in his thigh obtrusively. Nico blushed more and Percy grabbed the hem of the boy's boxers, holding his hips up so could pull of the cotton shorts down. Nico was still blushing furiously as Percy finished pulling down his own afterwards. They stared at each other's nude forms, one lying prostrate and the other sitting up between his legs. "I've never seen another guy hard before," Percy said staring down at Nico's erection. He reached down and made a fist around Nico's length, he seemed almost lost in a trance as he tugged upwards then pumped down. Nico bucked. "You're sensitive,"

"And you're awfully confident," Nico glared, biting his lip as Percy continued to stroke him.

"You think so?" Percy asked, laughing at the glare and kissing Nico, forcing his lip out from between his teeth. Nico wasn't dumb, a lot of novels and things tried to portray guys fighting over dominant positions, or not knowing what went where, but it was pretty self explanatory, and Nico knew that Percy had already assumed the role of dominance between them. The older teen handed Nico the condom. "Roll this on me," He said.

"What! What makes you think I know how to do it?" Nico asked.

"You had that Sex Ed class in our sophomore year, remember?"

"That was like two years ago!" Nico exclaimed.

"Just try," Percy grabbed Nico's hand and put it against his member, Nico's fingers twitched and he grabbed a fistful of Percy. "How's it feel?"

"Like your dick," Nico said, casting him a dark look.

"No, smartass, do you like the way it feels?" Nico gave him a bashful glance then and he placed his other hand around the base of Percy's penis, cupping the testicles hanging underneath and he pumped it several times.

"I do," Nico admitted and Percy smiled and moaned.

"Good," He leaned forward and kissed Nico again. "Cause I wanna get started," He reached across the small bed and grabbed the bottle of lubrication, and Nico swallowed a lump in his throat. "I hear this hurts if you don't relax," Percy said. "So relax," He instructed.

"I'll try," Nico relented. Percy smiled and coated his fingers in lubrication.

"I'll count to three," Percy said and Nico nodded. "One, two—" He pushed his middle finger in on two and Nico cried out, screwing his eyes shut.

"I thought you said you were going on three!"

"You would have tensed up on three," Percy said. "I'm only a little way in, anyway, you're really tight down here," Nico blushed down to his neck.

"Just fucking do it," He growled, it didn't hurt yet, Nico could feel the potential for pain as Percy wiggled his finger forward, but it was more of a strange, almost itching sensation rather than painful.

"How many fingers should I use?" Percy asked, but Nico was doing his best not to shout and through his teeth he grunted, "Maybe you should get one finger in all the way first," Percy nodded and gingerly he worked his middle finger down to the knuckle. Still the slim Italian teen wasn't in pain per se, it was the strangest feeling, a pressure almost as his entrance was stretched slightly. "I'm gonna put another one in," Before Nico could say anything Percy was pushing his index finger in. Now, Nico realized, it hurt. He felt like he was being torn as Percy scissored inside of him. Tears began to stream down his face as he bit back half a moan and half a cry of pain. "Shit," Percy said. "Nico don't cry, I'm sorry!"

"Idiot," Nico grunted. "Distract me with something, kiss me again!" Instantly Percy's lips were pushing hard on Nico's and he pushed his fingers forward, Nico fumbled to get the condom properly around Percy's length, but at last he slipped the prophylactic down with a thumbing motion, when the elastic band snapped into place Percy grunted.

"Easy," He said.

"I'm the one that should be saying that," Nico panted, to say he wasn't in pain anymore would be a lie, but he was sure he could get almost used to the feeling of Percy's fingers stretching him, or at least being inside of him. Percy pulled out, his fingers slick with a mix of lube and blood; he looked worried at the sight of it.

"Are you alright?" He asked staring at his fingers, then he looked down between Nico's legs and more blood was spilling out, the younger teen didn't look exactly comfortable but his face didn't betray much pain, Percy knew, though, that Nico was an expert at hiding a lot discomfort.

"I'll be fine, just go slower," Nico breathed, he felt the liquids oozing out of him absently, it didn't feel like he was bleeding though he was, just not by much.

"Do you think I can put it in yet?"

"I don't know," Nico admitted. "I—go ahead and try; I'll tell you if it hurts too bad."

"Right. Slow." Percy nodded. "Turn over so I can see you," He helped Nico turn over on his back and then hoisted the boy's legs onto his shoulders; again he sat there staring down at Nico's nudity till the younger teen grew red in the face.

"Just do it already," He said again, and Percy remembered to lean forward, finding that the younger teen was rather flexible as his knees hit his chest without much preamble and he kissed Nico with a fury as he lined up his erectness with the slighter teen's hole. He inserted his tip and Nico's lips trembled against his own, he held tighter to the boy underneath him.

"I'm sorry," He whispered and Nico could only make small whimpering sounds, with the speed of molasses he pushed forward, finding the resistance was still quite great and wondered if he should have opened the younger boy's channel up more, but it was too late for that, he was almost halfway in. "You're doing so good, Nico," He said and he felt the younger teen's teeth sink into his shoulder and his nails scratched at his back, but if Nico could endure then so could he. When he reached the halfway point he noticed that Nico's prick was still poking him in the stomach, it was a sort of afterthought but one that made him smile nonetheless, that he turned Nico on had never really seemed like it meant much, but here and now with Nico in such pain for him to be this engorged was a thing of beauty. He was almost a third of the way there when Nico's eyes shot open and a loud yelp emitted from his throat. "Oh, God, are you okay?"

"Stop asking me that!" Nico cried. "And don't move!" Gyrating his hips he moaned out Percy's name, swiveling from side to side he wrapped his fingers around Percy's shoulders and willed him forward more slowly than before, soft mewling sounds echoing around the room. Percy remembered his parents being home and hushed Nico with a kiss, he felt the boy's dick jump and finally he filled him to the hilt. He passed a moan between his mouth into Nico's who swallowed it down and echoed it.

For Nico that pressure had built and spilt over, now he could feel Percy hot in his belly like a poker. With every inch forward he was slowly warped around the member plugging him and even more slowly it was eliciting a slow erupting kind of pleasure, bursting in spots at different intervals, here it was barely graspable but there it was wholly and completely tangible and it made him cry out with such mirth that it surprised Percy, who was beginning to sweat. Their shared body heat was great, and Nico realized that he was already beaded with sweat himself, but it was a welcome sort of heat and he reveled in it as well.

There were so many facets of differentness inside of him, he could still feel that pain of the intrusion, something foreign his body didn't recognize causing it to alert him of Percy's ministrations, but then there was also a new great pleasure something that could be likened to a giant tree, growing ever steadily and branching out, millions of different fingers outstretching and gripping Nico in their throes.

"I love you Percy," Nico whispered hotly in Percy's ear, he couldn't so much help saying it as his mouth had lost its filter. Whether Percy returned the sentiment or not was lost on Nico as the only noises he could decipher were Percy's grunts and moans. As suddenly as it had all started that hotness in his belly became unbearable, it built up more and more and Nico tested it by pushing it, slowly his member began weeping with long drops of genetic code, the basic equations of human life spilling forward from him. "I'm…I need to—come." Again he bit into Percy's shoulder, this time he tasted blood in his mouth and its coppery blend rushed down his throat as he squeezed his eyes shut as he took ragged breaths of air to steady himself. He shot his load between their stomachs, coating them in his sticky, sweet juices. His body rocked and another thick dispersion shot upward, then he convulsed underneath Percy, his body shaking as there was naught but a weeping left to his still hardness.

"God, Nico!" Percy shouted, biting his lips while all the sensations drove him absolutely mad. Nico's channel clenched such that it made it impossible for Percy to move at all as the younger teen climaxed, and it milked the older, more athletic of the two. Percy's head hit the pillow and he drove forward, not far behind Nico in his finish. He collapsed on top of the boy as they were both spent and dirty. The only thing that could be heard in the small room was the two of them catching their respective breaths, slowly Percy pulled out, nearly flaccid and Nico grunted again till the taller of them was all the way out. He pulled the condom off and threw it in the wastebasket beside the bed. They still sat in silence ten minutes later, staring up at the ceiling and their minds had turned slightly to mush as if they had been bestowed the secrets of the universe and they just couldn't perceive them properly. Percy was the first to speak, "That was _so_ much better than jacking off." Nico nodded and laughed, but it caused him to wince. "How do you feel?"

"Like someone skewered me," Was the reply. "But in a good way, it hurt, but it was really good," He turned his head to look at Percy.

Then Percy smiled and with a laugh said, "Need a cigarette?"

"Shut the hell up, Jackson, you're ruining the moment," Percy laughed again and yawned, he reached over and pulled Nico to him, wrapping his arms around him.

"Nap time," He said in his ear, finding that the need for sleep was suddenly so great he wasn't sure if he could keep his eyes open for very much longer. Nico let himself be held and waited as the minutes passed, and then Percy was snoring lightly in his ear. He smiled and shook his head and with a yawn he closed his own eyes and fell into a light sleep, thoughts of being used slowly creeping into his mind. He felt full inside, overstuffed with emotion, as if before he had only had a small crush-and those prior emotions had been anything but small-and now it was something oceanic in proportions. He didn't want what just happened to have been Percy just needing release, but if it was he could handle it, as long as Percy was happy about it.

He was awoken a few hours later by the sound of Percy shuffling around in the room. He opened his eyes and laughed because Percy was bent over, still naked, pulling on his pants. Percy turned around and smiled, tucked himself into the jeans, then zipped and buttoned them. "Hi," He smiled and Percy leaned down and kissed him.

"Hey," he said.

"What are you doing?" Nico asked and Percy sat down on the bed beside him and placed a hand on Nico's side, pulling him up and draping him across his lap. He kissed him again and Nico winced. "Ow."

"Sorry," Percy said, but he was still smiling. "I was just going to get something out of the kitchen, I don't think I've ever been this hungry in my entire life." Nico smiled and then laughed as Percy ran his fingers over his ribs. "You're pretty amazing, Nico."

"I'm nothing special," Nico shrugged.

"No you are," Percy said and was suddenly serious. "I don't know how I didn't see it before,"

"Because I was in the friend's zone," Nico smiled. "But I'm still nothing special," He kissed Percy and with difficulty he stood, holding himself up against the wall. "Oh wow," He said. "Everything hurts," The two boys were bitten, scratched and bruised between themselves, and Nico had taken the worst of it. Percy insisted on helping him into his pants and patted the crotch of his jeans after they had been zipped. "I'm definitely not up for another round," Nico told him.

"Well let me know when you are," Percy smiled and without shirts they emerged into the rest of house. Fresh, cool air hit them and they realized how much they stank. "We should take a shower."

"Separate showers," Nico said.

"What? Why?" Percy asked.

"Because you, sir, are very persuasive and I think that even if I said 'no' we would somehow ended up doing it again," Percy smiled at him, and then his stomach rumbled. "Let's get something to eat first." They walked down the hall, Nico limping and Percy grinning like a fool from ear to ear.

"Good evening, gentlemen," Paul said looking up from a thick novel that was placed in his lap. Paul was not as attractive as Sally's first husband by some people's standards, not to say he wasn't attractive, because he was: he had short cropped sandy hair, almost blond in color, but with too much brown to be considered blond. He wore rectangular glasses and had a purely bookish look to him, while Percy's father was a tall man with stone cut features and dark, dark hair. Nico looked around and saw that outside of the window it was indeed very late. "Percy, your mother wants to have a word with you."

Percy sighed. "Crap. I forgot you guys were here," He looked at Nico and gave him an apologetic stare.

"She's in the kitchen, there's leftover meatloaf in there," Paul looked back down at his book and Nico was astounded that he wasn't the least bit perturbed by what had happened three doors down from the living room. Percy grabbed Nico's hand and pulled him into the kitchen.

"…hey Mom," Percy said and she looked up at him from the novella in her hands as she sat at the kitchen island, a glass of white wine in a glass beside her.

"Hello boys," She said and bookmarked her place. "You know, when I said I hope you were safe I wasn't giving you permission to have intercourse, in fact I was joking." She shook her head looking slightly disappointed. "You did use protection didn't you? Paul gave you a ton of stuff when we had that talk the other week," Percy sighed again, his mother and Paul had given him another birds and bees talk not long after he had admitted he felt something for Nico.

"Yes, Mom." He said.

"Nico are you okay, dear?" Nico blushed. "I assume since you're limping Percy wasn't very gentle, you two weren't ready for that kind of emotional or physical commitment, you should have waited."

"I'll be okay," Nico said bashfully, Sally stood up and went over to the oven, she pulled down two plates and then opened the stove.

"I made meatloaf and some roasted potatoes, there are green beans in this pot," She indicated to the pots on the eyes. "And there are dinner rolls in here beside the meatloaf." Then she turned around. "This was a big step for both of you," She said trying to mix her mothering in with her feeding the two of them. "I _really_ wish you would have waited, but this is just as much my fault as anyone else's, two hormonal teenage boys under one roof in the same room without any supervision, attracted to each other? I should have put a stop to it, but I panicked, and by the time I worked up the nerve to go back in there it was much too late." She sighed again, berating her parenting skills slightly and then she gave Nico a motherly look. "You're sure you're alright, sweetie? I can take you to the hospital if you want me to?"

"Sally I'm fine, I swear, just sore." Nico said and both boys were blushing furiously again.

"God. There's no use in me telling you to sleep in separate rooms now," She sighed. "What's done is done. I take it you broke up with Annabeth?"

"I—well, not really," Percy said.

"Percy…"

"I mean we'll talk after prom! She really wants to have one last good memory of us before she goes away," Sally took a sip of her wine, unamused.

"That Rachel girl called," She said. "She told me to tell you that as soon as you were done being indisposed to call her back." Then she walked over to them and placed a kiss on both their foreheads, she wrinkled her nose at the smell of them and walked away.

"That wasn't so bad," Nico said.

"We still have to call Rachel," Percy replied, and Nico knew they were going to get quite an earful. "Which one of us is it going to be?"


	9. Chapter 9

"Were either of you even thinking?" Rachel asked them, standing in Percy's living room at two in the morning. "Now, I'll be the first to admit Annabeth isn't always cuddly or sweet, but she's your friend," Rachel pointed at Nico. "And she's your—was your—I don't even know what you two are right now, you're in relationship limbo! I talked to your mom," Here Percy sighed.

"Of course you did,"

"You're not taking this seriously, Percy," Rachel continued. "Your mom is way disappointed, she knows that Annabeth is going to be crushed, have you ever seen her cry Percy?" But the young man wasn't allowed to answer. "Yeah, you have, you know it isn't such a pretty sight, guess what genius? She's going to be crying over you this time,"

"She's breaking up with me!" Percy said jumping up.

"No, she's going to college; something you both knew was coming for a long, long time. She's been trying to persuade you to get into her college for a long time,"

"What if I don't want to be in her college?" Percy asked. "What if, maybe, I want to have sex with someone who wants to have sex too, maybe I don't want to spend all my time discussing what I'm going to do with my life, planning out every little detail because I have to have everything perfect,"

"Yeah," Rachel gave a small, dry, unbelieving laugh. "What if, Percy. What if Annabeth plans out every moment of her life because she wants to make sure she has a plan, because, at one point in her life her family was in so much disarray she didn't think she'd ever smile again? What if, one day, the person that meant the most to you was just gone and nothing went right after that? Her Dad's a genius too, lucky he got that job at that science foundation or they might have end up on the streets, or have you forgotten that Percy?" Percy was quiet. "You need to apologize to her, you need to tell her how stupid you were to lead her on, then you need to apologize to Nico because you made him your mistress."

"Ahem," The three of them turned to see Sally staring at them, she had been drinking since the last time Percy had seen her and she was wearing her house robe, her hair matted to her head, wet from her shower. "Can I speak to my son alone for a few minutes?" She asked and Rachel grabbed Nico by the ear, pulling him along behind her. "You're doing a stellar job, Miss Dare," Sally said with a smile.

"Thank you, Sally," Nico limped behind her, his backside had taken a turn for the worse and it was difficult enough to walk let alone be tugged behind a fuming redhead. Percy watched them go and then he turned to look at his mother, her wineglass in hand and her eyes were red.

"Percy," She said and walked forward with a purpose, staggering slightly. "Honey, do you know why me and your father are not together?" Percy's expression darkened and he leaned back in the couch. "He left me," She took a seat across from him, crossing her legs, a far off look coming over his face. "He left me for that twenty-two year old perky little college student one day, just out of the blue," She sighed. "We had our fights, but I didn't think he'd leave. Now the jokes on him though because she's pushing thirty and getting hippy." Percy had never seen his mom like this.

"Mom—"

"He cheated on me, Perseus," Sally continued, tearing up. "He cheated on me over, and over, and over again with that slut and I kept forgiving him because I loved him." Her head hung down, and her hair became a curtain in front of her face as she tried not to cry. "And now you're being just like him Percy, just like him." Her eyes were hard as stone as she looked through her hair and glowered at him for a moment, then they softened and something wet streaked down her face. "Percy I love you," She said, and more tears fell out of her eyes, she stood up and fell into the seat beside her son, she took his hand. "I know you'll do the right thing and tell her, I know you'll continue to apologize until she forgives you, because I thought I taught you better than this, Percy, but I know I taught you well enough to know when you did wrong,"

"I won't say it's wrong for me to want what she's not giving me," Percy said.

"I'm not telling you that, what's wrong is that instead of acting like you should have and telling her you let her think you wanted to keep going,"

"But I do want to keep going, or I did,"

Sally stroked his cheek. "And now?"

"Now I don't think it'll work out between us," Percy said.

"Don't be surprised if she slaps you," Sally chuckled drunkenly. "Don't be surprised if she wants to hurt you, sweetie, because a blow like this is enough to cause a lot more than physical pain to any woman."

"I'm just supposed to let her beat me?" Percy asked.

"One good hit, or lots of little ones," Percy realized his mother was talking from experience. "You remember I threw all of your father's stuff into the four o'clock traffic back when we lived in New York City? Those were my little hits,"

"I'll apologize," Percy said. "I—should I still take her to prom?"

"Oh sweetie, you had better be the _best_ boyfriend for the entire night, we'll go get her a corsage in the morning, remember your manners, dance with her, but before you do anything make sure to tell her you have something very important she needs to know, make sure to tell her that at the end of the night your relationship will probably be over, and that you just want to give her the best memories you can."

"I—it'll make her feel better, right?"

"As long as you're upfront with her, but she will still be mad at you." Sally shook her head. "I don't know why people miss being young, all you do when you're young is make mistakes," She smiled and stood with Percy's help. "I'm going to bed, sweetie, Paul'll take you to get all your stuff for prom in the morning, but try not to make too much noise, Mommy's going to have a hangover." Then she drained her glass and walked into the hallway, smiling at Nico and Rachel as she passed and let them know that they could go talk to Percy again.

"What was that about?" Rachel asked upon their entry.

"My Dad was a jackass and now I think I am too," Percy said, the look he gave made it clear that he thought his statement was very true. Nico sat down beside Percy and heaved a heavy sigh before he leaned against him. Percy looked over his shoulder at the boy and kissed his lips. "What are we going to do?"

"Whatever we have to," Nico said. "I told you we shouldn't have done it," Percy smiled and nodded.

"You did keep telling me to stop," He admitted and then he winced as he felt Rachel's hand swat the back of his head. He looked over at her.

"You should have listened to him," She took a seat. "Oh this is a mess," Then she saw Nico take Percy's hand, and they kissed again and she rolled her eyes as she fought a smile. "Damn it you two, at least you're both happy for now." She stood. "We'll forget about it for now, Nico I dropped your suit off at your house but that was before I remembered you were staying with Percy for a while. I think Persephone dry cleaned it by hand," Shaking her head Rachel finally smiled and stood up. "I'm going back home, there's no way I'm staying here tonight, I've got tons to do in a few hours."

"Call me when you get in," Nico said and they embraced her.

"I will" She grabbed her keys off the coffee table and walked out of the apartment. Percy turned back to Nico and pulled the boy close as soon as she was gone, capturing his lips and chuckling in his ear.

"I'm sorry I made you my mistress," He laughed.

"Yeah well I'm not, but I do feel bad, Rachel did a good job." He looked up at Percy. "Your hands are wandering."

"I know," Percy smiled, running his hands down Nico's back to rest around his ass, he squeezed. "Have I ever told you that you have a nice butt?"

"Actually up to this point I'm pretty sure you've never thought of my butt," Nico laughed, a twinkle in his eye, he wrapped his arms around Percy's waist and sighed contentedly. "Hey, what you said to Rachel, about wanting to have sex with someone who wanted to have it with you too, that's not the only reason this happened is it?" Nico asked suddenly as the thought came into his head. "I mean, if that's what you want then I can handle that," His lowered his gaze.

Percy laughed and kissed the top of Nico's head. "Nico," He said. "If I wanted you for the sex why would I have gone through the trouble of this entire month and a half? This has been far too emotional a roller coaster for this to be just sex."

"That's just a bonus?" Nico laughed for a moment, and then he became somber again. "It was all just so sudden, you know? One minute I come out, the next I'm accepted, then I get the boy I want. Someone up there likes me." He pointed to the sky and again Percy chuckled.

"Or maybe I was just stupid and didn't see how hard you've been trying all these years to get me to notice you?" Percy smiled. "I should have known, Nico. You brought me breakfast in bed, you always did what I wanted to do even if you hated it, you suffered through my Jack Black phase and watched Kung Fu Panda with me a hundred times,"

"And I am a hundred times worse for it," Nico assured.

"There's a second one coming out," Percy said, smiling wider and Nico's eyes widened in horror. "But that's beside the point, you were always this really amazing friend, you listened to me gripe about girls, you listened to me go on and on about cars, you've taken care of me when I was sick," Nico smiled at the memory of Percy with a cold on his couch.

"Dad hated that," He said fondly.

"Well Mom had to go to Milan for fashion week," Percy remembered. "Anyway, thinking back on it it's _really_ obvious that you've liked me for a while,"

"Since seventh grade," Nico shrugged.

"A really long while then," Percy continued. "And if I would have seen it back then, and if I would have known how good it felt to like you back maybe none of this would have happened."

"I'm kind of glad it did," Nico said. "Because eventually I got you,"

"And you can have me till you get tired of me," Percy smirked.

"Except for later on today," Nico said. "When all this is over you will dance with me won't you? Even if it's just on the roof of my apartment?"

"Yeah," The taller teen said. "I think we can do that," Then he kissed him again. "What do you think about just staying up for the rest of the night?" He gave Nico's ass another squeeze and the boy winced.

"I think I can handle it, just slow it down, Percy, last time you almost ripped me in half." Percy chuckled and grabbed Nico's hand. "I'll be careful, I promise." He said and pulled his friend turned more into his room where he continued to de-virginize Nico, remembering that the boy could not keep silent in the throes of passion and keeping their mouths permanently together the entire night.

The next morning, after Percy and Paul dropped Nico off at his apartment where he and Percy spent a good ten minutes just holding hands and smirking at each other before Paul cleared his throat and Percy kissed the young man good-bye. Paul found himself laughing as he and his stepson climbed back into the professor's Range Rover. "I've never seen you like this before, son." Paul smiled as Percy clicked his safety belt.

"Annabeth's not really a public affection kind of girl," Percy shrugged. "She freaked if I so much as held her hand really, but I just took it as Annabeth being Annabeth. Nico shoves his tongue down my throat in front of my mother," Percy laughed.

"It might seem like it's all good now," Paul said as he drove to the shopping district. "But you have to know that relationships are hard work, Percy, you can't just break-up with someone every time they do something you don't like." Paul gave him a serious look. "Annabeth is a good girl,"

"I know," Percy said. "Mom talked to me last night about it, I know what I have to do, and I know that everything I done up till this point has been wrong, and I'm sorry. I'll tell her I'm sorry till I'm blue in the face if I have to."

"I just wanted you to understand," Paul said and he pushed his glasses back up on his face. "Do you still have feelings for this girl?"

Percy was quiet for a moment. "Of course," He said. "God, yes. I love Annabeth, and I think I always will, but she's going away and she doesn't care how I feel about it." He sighed. "And then there's Nico, and he made everything so confusing, and now I can't get him out of my head."

"I understand that it's confusing," Paul clapped him on the shoulder with one hand, steering with the other. "But you'll do the right thing."

"Everyone keeps saying that," Percy grumbled. "What is the right thing to do?"

"You'll know," Paul smiled. "I believe that," He stopped outside of a flower shop in Chelsea, and turned the car off. "But I bet you'll want to take something besides that Honda of yours to the prom tonight." He smiled. "It's affordable and all, but it's just not as nice as the Range." He threw the keys to Percy.

"Paul…" Percy said staring down at the keys in his hands. "I can't."

"Oh you can, and you will," Paul smiled. "Even with everything going on I want you to have as much fun as possible. I never had any kids Percy, but from the moment I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with your mother you became my son, and I don't care if you like men or women, you will _always_ be my son." Percy's heart stuttered for a minute and a rush of joy spilt over him like a bucket of ice water. He hugged Paul and the man patted him on the back. "There's one more thing," He said.

"Yeah?" Percy asked, his eyes slightly red.

"We haven't really talked about it, but I want you to go to college too. I want you to have a good life too, and I know you and Nico haven't applied anywhere, so I talked to the admission office where I work, and if you want to I can get you both started this fall."

"Paul I don't know what I want to do, and Nico never told me what he wants to do," Percy said.

"You can go for general education till you know what you want," Paul offered, holding the door open for him; they walked into the flower shop. "Just think about it?"

"I don't have to, Paul. You've always been such a great guy to my mom and me, if you want me to go to college then I'll give it a try, but I'll talk to Nico about it and see what he wants." Paul grinned even wider and Percy just shook his head as he saw the thoughts of Percy's continued learning passed through the man's mind, Percy knew that all things that had something to do with knowledge were right up Paul's alley. But funnily as big a dork as he was he could be pretty cool, even when he was talking about his days studying Shakespeare, he had taken theatrical combat classes and knew his way around a rapier, though it wasn't such a conventional weapon nowadays.

"We're looking for a corsage," Paul said to the earthy woman behind the counter. She had long white hair and shockingly green eyes that heavily complimented her sun browned skin, she wasn't a pretty sort of woman, but she was beautiful in the way that nature is beautiful and the two men appreciated her as he smiled at them.

"Any particular color?" She asked in heavily accented English.

"You're English," Paul smiled. "From…Northampton?"

"I am," She said looking surprised. "How did you know?"

"When I was in school I studied abroad, got to know a lot of different English dialects," Percy huffed a breath. Yeah, okay, Paul could be really cool sometimes, but his knowledge was also famous for holding them up for hours at a time when he chatted people up, but the least the teen could do was let him talk for a few minutes with the woman, then he would assert himself back into the conversation.

"Oh wow, you look handsome," Persephone smiled as Nico emerged from the bathroom. Their small apartment had gone from moderately cleanly to the most sterile and disinfected place that block had, Nico was pretty sure that most hospitals weren't nearly as well kept.

"Thank you," He said running a comb through his hair, it was absolutely not doing anything he wanted. He huffed a sigh.

"Do you mind if I…?" Gingerly she took the comb from him and ran it under the faucet. "I used to be a hair stylist, a long, long time ago," She smiled combing through Nico's long locks. "But I find plants a lot easier to work with than people," Persephone was a gardener for hire, she didn't have just a green thumb, her entire body was green. She could get any plant to grow in the most uninhabitable conditions and she was heavily paid for it. That had been something Nico had to ask about, he had wanted to know if Persephone had only agreed to his father's proposal because of his recent spring of wealth. Of course, the entire conversation had been surreptious from Hades and Persephone had sworn to secrecy. She continued to wet the comb and slowly tamed Nico's curls one at a time. "Close your eyes," She said as she grabbed the hair spray off the counter.

Nico waited patiently as she finished, then she combed a bang over into his eye and he smiled. "Wow." He said, his hair was fanned back so that it was almost straight except for the singular bang hang in front of his eye, it looked like he had spent hours on his hair. "Why don't you do this anymore?"

"Too many germs, not enough people wash their hair properly and I could just feel the grime through my gloves," She gave a nervous laugh. "But you have such pretty hair," She said touching it absently. "You get it from your mother, she was a beautiful woman."

Nico looked in the mirror at Persephone, she too was a beautiful woman, dark hair, dark eyes, she reminded Nico slightly of his mother as they had the same sort of air to themselves, confident and kind. Only Persephone was very cautious and a sort of germ freak. "Thank you," He said again. "I miss her."

"I'm sure you do," Persephone said softly. "I can't replace her, and I won't try," There was the sound of feet shuffling and the two of them looked up. Hades was half smiling at them as he loomed in the doorway, tall, resplendent in black, and handsome. He held his hand out and Persephone took it gingerly as she did most things and slowly he kissed it, his presence so immaculate that Nico wondered if he would ever measure up to it. But that was a feeling for a different day as his father stood behind him, still quite a few heads taller than him, but they favored so very closely.

"You look like her," Hades said, his voice calm and steady as it always was. "And even if sometimes I have a problem with it she would have taken you in her arms and hugged you till you couldn't breathe, and that would be just for going to prom at all." Nico nodded. "I'm…I'm proud of you boy, for growing into such a fine young man. I'm proud of you."

If ever there was a time Nico felt like crying it was now, but he found strength in his father's tall form, he found strength in the fact that he had the man's strong eyes, that he had his jaw, his stare, his way of standing and carrying himself "Dad—"

"The wedding's going to be at the end of the Summer, since it's Persephone's favorite time of the year, we'll get fitted for tuxes too…you can bring Jackson along to be in the wedding party if you want." The last part of the sentence was ground out, and Nico smiled at his father's disposition towards Percy still.

"Thank you, sir."

"Yeah, whatever." Hades moved out of the bathroom. There was a knock on the door and Persephone answered it. "Here," Hades said handing Nico a wallet. "Have a good time." Before the boy could answer his father slipped away like smoke, walking into the living room to place a hand on Persephone's waist. Nico followed suit into the living room but opted to leave his future stepmother in the hands of his father. A grin broke out over his face at the sight of Rachel Elizabeth Dare, the girl who had been in the dress shop was dowdy compared to this goddess before him.

"Makes you want to swear off guys forever, right?" She asked looking down at herself and smiling. The bell of the dress had an outer shell of lighter blue lace; the waist and the bodice were covered in gems and glitter. Her fiery hair was pulled into an elegant bun and specific curls pooled around her shoulders like a waterfall, her make-up was indistinguishable from her actual face, and for a moment Nico had to remember that his was Rachel, not a supermodel.

"You look amazing," Nico said and stepped forward.

"Yeah I know," She smiled. "I just hate these damned gloves," Her arms were gloved to her bicep in satin, they were a lovely cream and matched the stripes in Nico's tie.

"Nico," Persephone smiled. "You forgot something in here," She grabbed him by the arm and dragged him into the kitchen.

"I didn't—" Persephone reached into the frigerator and pulled out a white blossom with a few dark blue petals growing around in a pattern. "How did you?" Persephone laughed her tinkling laugh.

"Flowers are my thing," She said. "A little dye in the seeds and you get something spectacular." She reached further in and grabbed another flower; this one was all white except for the stem which complimented Rachel's dress. She pinned it to his lapel. "There now, don't keep your date waiting, sweetheart." Nico nodded and ran back into the living room.

"This is for you," He said and he opened the plastic casing the corsage was in, Rachel smiled and held out her hand and he placed it around her wrist.

"It's beautiful, thank you." She said. "I'll have your son back later on tonight…this is totally not how this works," She laughed. "Nico, my lady, let's go." The aforementioned blushed as she held her arm out for him and he took it, giving his father an apologetic look, Hades' face was composed, but his eyes were slightly amused at the antics.

"I like you better than Jackson, Rachel," He said and held the door for them. "You should try to convert my son." Nico blushed deeper.

"Wouldn't dream of it, sir. Percy would have my head," She smiled, Hades shrugged good naturedly and closed the door behind them. "Your Dad's definitely about to do it with your stepmom." Rachel said, casting a look at the door over her shoulder.

"Shut up," Nico glared at her as they took the stairs down.

"What? Your Dad's totally good looking, I'd flip through a Play Girl with him in it." Nico's face became so red it could be considered cranberry. "Bye Earl," She smiled at the doorman. He waved at them and turned back to his paper.

"God," Nico said. "You might look like a model but you're still Rachel,"

"This is true," She laughed and as an afterthought said, "and thank you for the supermodel comment."

"I said model," Nico pointed out.

"I know what you meant," She laughed as they climbed into her Prius. "We're meeting everyone at Santa Luca," Santa Luca was a Mediterranean restaurant and Nico felt the wallet in his pocket grow heavy, he pulled it out and opened it and ten crisp hundred dollar bills stared him in the face. "That's a lot of cash," Rachel said.

"I—yeah." Nico said and closed it, he didn't want to see that money, it sort of gave him a bad feeling as he had never had much money. He couldn't wrap his mind around the face that his Dad was getting cash at regular intervals now, well, more than his undertaking job had ever made.

"You okay"

"I will be," He said and buckled his seatbelt. "I think everyone's dinner is on me tonight."

Santa Luca was a sort of dress appropriate kind of place, so six teenagers in tuxedos and prom dresses didn't stick out entirely too much from the name brand crowds around them. They sat in the center of the restaurant, thanks to some pull from Rachel's father's assistant, and they had all already ordered.

If Rachel were a goddess supermodel, then so too were Annabeth and Juniper, to any that looked at the table it was perhaps a gathering of like minded attractive people's out on the town for a night of sophisticated fun. To the group of teens it was instead just dinner, an expensive one, but just dinner with friends. Annabeth was heavenly in her all white gown, she could have made Cinderella weep with bitter tears at how much better she wore the same styled dress. Unlike Rachel who's hair was done up, her was played down, all the strands gathered into a ponytail that hung low on the back of her neck and curled to mathematical perfection, each curl was twelve centimeters in circumference. Because of the extravagance of her gown she had decided that she didn't need much jewelry, but an expensive looking diamond necklace decorated her long, almost swan like neck. It was her mother's, the one thing that she had left to her.

Juniper on the other hand was a contrastingly dark beauty, because of collaboration on all three parts of the young women she wore her hair straight, though it hugged her cherubic face much the same way her dark red dress hugged her body, tightly. She was normally the more reserved of the three girlfriends, wearing modest, borderline frumpy clothing, but, because prom was so close to her and Grover's anniversary she decided it would be best to play up the flirt factor. Her dress, if you can believe it, was completely and totally made from recycled materials, and so she wore it with the utmost pride that her carbon footprint was that much smaller. Her large, pouty lips were painted rouge and when she smiled the whites of her teeth were that much more noticeable. Yes, all three young men felt that perhaps they had the belles of the ball.

Of the young men though, Grover felt himself luckiest. He grabbed Juniper's hand and smiled when she smiled and he kissed her for perhaps the millionth time that night that they knew of. "I love you," He said to her and suddenly her face was lit up.

"I love you too," She said, and though it wasn't their first public exchange of love it always looked like it. Rachel pretended to gag and grasped Nico by the arm.

"I _love_ you," She said melodramatically, shaking her head and making her curls dance.

"And I you!" Nico mimicked and laughed, causing everyone at the table to laugh as well. Juniper's face took on the same rosy quality as her lips and she tried to hide her blush behind her hands. For the rest of their time at the restaurant there was general cheer and merry making, and even blatant surprise when Nico pulled out his wallet and paid for everyone's meal. They piled into Paul's SUV and Percy shuffled them all off to prom for the last night of their high school lives.

Nico hid his sudden jealousy well when Annabeth grabbed Percy's hand and kissed him. Rachel elbowed him in the side when she saw his face cloud over and she shook her head. He quickly composed his face to mimic blankness and they piled out of the car and headed into prom.

An hour later and Nico realized that prom was just a word that meant dance till you need to sit down because your shoes are hurting your feet. A while ago Percy had told Annabeth what his mother had instructed him to and she had only nodded in a grim sort of fashion as she realized how hurt he was over the whole matter. But now the two of them were slow dancing on the ballroom floor.

"Here he is," Nico turned his head at the sound of Rachel's voice, she had gone off to get something to drink. Then he smiled widely at the sight of Aaron who had a pretty looking girl standing behind him.

"Hey," He said.

"Hey yourself, Nico. Rachel told me about what happened," Aaron smiled handsomely. "I am so proud," Then he laughed and stepped back. "This is Gwen, my hag, Gwen this is Nico," Nico shook his head as he took the girl's hand.

"I'm sorry he calls you that," He said over the music.

"No, it's okay, when I introduce him to people I know I call him my fag," She smiled.

"Hey, you wanna go shake up the dance floor a little?" Aaron asked and grabbed Nico's shoulder. "A little slow dance scandal never hurt anyone," Before he could answer he was laughing as the taller ginger pulled him to the floor and another slow song came on. Percy cast him a look that Nico didn't get the chance to interpret as Annabeth swung him around and Nico was pulled into an embrace with Aaron. "I like this song," He said, leading.

"Me too," Nico admitted. "You're my first guy dance,"

"How sweet, I popped your dance cherry," Nico laughed. "But seriously, I think your—er, boyfriend, best friend, whatever he is to you is very jealous at the moment." They twirled and of all the staring faces Percy's was the most envious. Nico mouthed "sorry" but that didn't seem to appease him at all. The song ended and the non-couple stepped apart, same as everyone else and clapped. "Go talk to him,"

"I can't, he's with Annabeth," Nico said.

"Well he's coming this way,"

"Shit. Shit. He looks pissed," Nico relented. Percy stopped in front of them, and he seemed to remember where they were. Annabeth headed off towards the bathrooms and Nico opened his mouth to say something.

"Hey," Percy beat him to it. "enjoying yourself?"

"I am…" Nico said awkwardly. "You remember Aaron from the tux store?"

"I do," Percy said, taking Aaron's hand and shaking it. "How're you doing, man?"

"I'm good," Aaron said with a smile. "Decided since no one else would do it I'd dance with Nico." Percy expression darkened. "You didn't have a problem with that did you?" For a moment Percy looked like he was about to say something, but Nico touched his arm. "No, I don't guess I do." He said between his teeth.

"I didn't think he'd be the jealous type," Aaron smiled and Nico stifled one, Percy turned slightly redder in the face, though if it were a blush or anger Nico wasn't sure. "Yeah, he told me about you two, I think it's cute. Where'd your real date go?"

"She went to check her make-up," Percy said. "I told her it looked like it was running a little,"

"Percy—"

"If you don't want me to dance with him, just say so," Aaron said. "It won't really make a difference to me, we're just friends."

"I—I—look I'm not jealous, but you guys were really close,"

"Percy…" Nico said, trying not to smile.

"Seems unfair to me, you get to dance with that pretty blonde girl all night and Nico doesn't have anyone he wants to dance with offering." Aaron shrugged. "I'm just saying." This time Percy went completely red.

"Calm down," Nico said quietly. "Look, Aaron, Percy, it isn't a big deal, I'll just sit the rest of the night out."

"But that's not fair," Aaron said and Percy sighed.

"He's right, it isn't fair." The taller brunet said and he watched Annabeth come out of the bathroom. "As long as we still dance tonight on your roof." He said.

"Of course," Nico smiled.

"I'm sorry I'm not dancing with you right now though," Nico placed a hand on Percy's shoulder and the more athletic teen took a small comfort in it. "I wish I could kiss you right now,"

"After you and Annabeth have talked," Nico encouraged. "And Aaron, don't tease Percy so much."

"Sorry," Aaron smiled and then Annabeth came and stood beside them.

"Hi," She said and they answered her with the same. "How's it look now?"

"Beautiful," Percy said.

"That's our cue," Nico said. "You two have fun dancing," Nico dropped a kiss on Annabeth's cheek. "I'm sorry," He said and she gave him a strange look, but he walked away before she could ask him anything.

"What was that about?"

"You wanna ask questions, or do you wanna dance?" Percy said with a smile, he took her hand and pulled her to the center of the dance floor as another song came on, this one upbeat and poppy. Percy wasn't exactly the most skilled dancer, but he emulated the other kids around who were all mostly jumping around to the song.

Three hours into prom and not too many people were left on the dance floor, Grover and Juniper were the only true couple out there as their friends had taken seats at their table. "I think my dad'll like those pictures,"

"My mom too," Annabeth said thoughtfully. "Percy you look so handsome tonight," Percy didn't say anything, but he nodded in agreement.

"Dude, we should head over to my house soon to start setting up," Grover said as the song ended and he and Juniper came to the table. "My cousin Joaquin scored a keg and a tap, and I've got some hard stuff in the freezer downstairs."

"And to make sure everyone doesn't just drink all night I brought some food,"

"…what kind?" Nico asked skeptically.

"Snack foods, enchiladas, h'ordeurves, finger sandwiches—with meat and some other stuff. Grover doesn't just eat vegan all the time, he does that for me," She kissed him. Nico knew Grover wasn't just solely vegan, he'd seen the tall, lanky teen scarf down a bucket of hot wings by himself.

"Just making sure," Nico laughed.

"Annabeth," Percy said. "Can—can we talk, outside?" The girl sighed, she knew this moment was coming the minute Percy had told her that tonight was their last night together as boyfriend and girlfriend. She knew that he didn't want to go to California, and she knew that he hated the fact that she was leaving.

"Yeah, sure," She said and she stood up. Rachel squeezed Annabeth's hand as she and Percy passed by them. The table watched them go, hoping that what was about to happen might end well. Percy held tightly to Annabeth's hand as they walked outside and the moon was starting to come up, strangely enough the stars were shining brightly even with the New York back drop so lit up. Percy stared at her and opened his mouth.

"Wait," Annabeth said. "Percy, I want you to know that with everything that's happened tonight I will always love you,"

"And I'll always love you," Percy sighed. "We have to break-up though, and I think you always knew that."

"I knew you wouldn't follow me," Annabeth nodded. "I hoped, but my interests aren't yours, but it was great while it lasted." She sighed. "I wasn't always the best girlfriend, I was demanding and sometimes I was just downright bitchy, and I'm sorry for that."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Percy said and he put his hand to his temple. He took a breath of air. "Annabeth, last night I cheated on you knowing I was going to break up with you tonight."

"You—"

"With Nico," Percy said. "I am so sorry."

Annabeth's jaw trembled and suddenly her eyes were red. "That's what he meant," She said as tears fell out of her eyes. "Percy how could you?" She reared her hand back and sent it sailing across his cheek, pain exploded against the side of his face and he turned to her wide-eyed.

"I'm sorry," He said again. "I didn't want to hurt you, but ever since he told me that he loved me Nico and I have kind of had a thing going on, and last night it all sort of happened." Annabeth squeezed her eyes together and she screamed, making fists. "You're leaving, and he was there for me."

"Why didn't you break-up with me at school?" She shouted turning around on him, and he saw her mascara running as tears fell out of her eyes without any thought. Percy felt guilt knot its way into his stomach and he grabbed her hands.

"I wanted us to have more time together," He said quietly. "I do love you, Annabeth, I always have, but we don't want the same things, there's no way this'll work." Annabeth turned around and rushed back into the building housing their prom. Percy paused for a minute and then quickly followed after her.

"Nico!" She shouted and the dark haired boy turned around from a conversation he was having with a the redhead she'd seen in The Ball Stops Here, he was met by a slap to the face and he stared in pain and amazement at the blonde girl. "You can have him," She said softly, then she turned around in a huff and walked out the building.

"I'd better…Juniper?" Juniper nodded and stood up. "We'll be right back." Juniper and Rachel left then without another word, following behind Annabeth as closely as they could till they finally caught the girl. Percy stood in the doorway look several versions of lost and Nico went over to him, grabbing his hand and taking him back to the table.

"It didn't go so well," He said.

"I see that, dude," Grover announced.

"Mom was right," He sighed. "We should have waited, God she's so hurt."

"She'll get over it," Aaron said. "A girl like that in California, she'll forget all about a high school relationship," Percy sighed and Rachel came running back in.

"We're going to take Annabeth home, I don't think we're going to make it to the party tonight,"

"How is she?" Percy asked.

"She'll be fine, I don't think she's that mad, but you know how it is, your boyfriend cheats on your with a guy, that's pretty heavy."

"I went out with a guy, bastard got a girl pregnant," Aaron said.

"Have you ever had a good relationship?" Nico asked with a very small laugh.

Aaron thought about that for a minute then shrugged. "Not yet I guess," Percy looked at Rachel.

"Will you tell her I really am sorry, God I'm an idiot."

"I won't argue with you there," Rachel said. "But yeah, alright, I'll tell her." With a wave she was gone out of the door again.

"Well," Grover said as a sort of end all statement. "Who needs a drink now?"


	10. Chapter 10

Grover's house was in Queens, and it was just that, a house; not an apartment, and it wasn't even rented. Technically it had started off as a duplex, but his parents had bought both floors after the woman had passed away so now they had a full house. His mother was out of town doing whatever eco-activists did in other countries, giving water, helping provide food, clothe children; it was something she had done with her husband when he was still alive and she kept doing it even after his death to sort of honor his memory, and the boys were setting up the house for a house party. Grover felt a pang of guilt about the whole situation because he knew his mom was doing good work, but then again he felt like he deserved this kind of thing. He was graduating that weekend.

They placed coolers all around the designated party rooms, and they locked the doors that shouldn't have been opened, like Grover's mother's room and Grover's room, but they left the guest room open for those couples who would have preferred a little privacy, and by couples he meant Percy and Nico as they had told him about their mutual meeting the night before, and plans for continuing it tonight. They left out the detail of course, Grover had asked to be left ignorant of who did what to whom. The kissing didn't bother him so much as make him wish that Juniper was there so _he_ could have room in which to need privacy as well.

Speaking of his girlfriend his phone began to ring, "Hello?" He asked.

"Hey Gro-Gro," He shuddered at the nickname. "Annabeth kicked us out, but she doesn't entirely hate Percy anymore, just kind of resents that he didn't wait for them to be officially broken-up, she says Nico didn't even give her body time to cool before he tried to replace her."

"Well, if she wanted to be in his place I think she probably should have listened to Percy then she wouldn't have had to worry about cooling bodies…"

"Oh grow up," Juniper said and he could picture her rolling her eyes. "Anyway, me and Rachel are on the way over to your house, take that food I have warming up in your stove out and when we get there I'll set it up."

"Juni, baby, these kids are going to be drunk off their asses, they're not going to care how the food is laid out." He laughed when she contested him otherwise and he said, "Alright, alright. I'll get your snacks out of the oven."

"Thank you," She said. "I love you."

"Love you too, beautiful." Then he hung up the phone. "I swear I'm going to marry that girl."

"I call best man," Percy laughed.

"Ring bearer!" Nico smiled.

"I'm pretty sure Juniper'll be making all the plans, but I'll be pulling for both of you," Grover chuckled. "I better go get that food out." Percy made a whipping noise and Grover rolled his eyes. Then he slipped into the kitchen, and Percy smiled.

"I thought he'd never leave," Percy laughed and handed Nico a wine cooler. "You've never come and drank with us."

"I was afraid I might get drunk and try to rape you," Nico said, a smile on his face, but his seriousness was hardly lost on Percy. "I don't guess I'll have to worry about that now," Percy kissed him and opened the wine cooler for him.

"No worries. Drink."

"I've never—"

"You'll like it," Percy said with his patented grin.

"Is this what peer pressure feels like?"

"It'd only be peer pressure if you didn't want to," Nico rolled his eyes but put the alcohol to his lips. Opening his mouth he let it fill his throat and he was surprised at the fizzing taste, but as soon as he swallowed it burnt going down. His eyes watered and Percy laughed at him. "Taste good?" He asked, but before Nico could answer he pushed their lips together and passed his tongue between Nico's teeth. The muscle in his mouth took him by surprise, Nico had been kissed a consecutive of ten different times in his life now on the lips, and Percy seemed intent on making that number increase tenfold every few hours. "Yup," Percy laughed. "It tastes fine."

"You're horrible," Nico said, there was something odd going on inside of him and he thought he should probably blame the alcohol as his head began to swoon.

"You like it," Percy countered and he pushed his tongue in Nico's mouth again, pulling the boy down onto the couch. He ran his hands up Nico's shirt, they had changed the moment they'd come to Grover's house, and Nico took a struggling breath, trying to suck in air around Percy's tongue. Reluctantly he pulled back and straddled Percy's hips.

"You're trying to get me drunk," Nico accused.

"You'll never know unless you keep drinking." Percy raked his fingers against Nico's shoulders. "Take another drink." The younger teen did as was instructed and drained the glass in his hand. "Now kiss me," Laughing a giggling laugh Nico leaned down and smashed his mouth against Percy's.

"I was gone for five minutes!" Grover yelled upon retry to the living room.

"That's five minutes too long, man." Percy laughed as Nico began attack his neck. "He's a lightweight, one Mike's Hard and he's buzzed."

"I'm buzzed?" Nico asked, swaying on Percy's hips and launching another assault. "I don't think I'm buzzed," He pulled back and gave the teen underneath him a look that said he wouldn't believe such scandalous lies.

"You're right, you're not buzzed," Percy said with a chuckle. "Grover, get Nico another Mike's." Grover sighed and walked forward, grasping Nico by the arm and pulling him off of Percy.

"Like hell I will, we're getting you something to eat so you don't get drunk before the girls get here, let alone everyone else." Then he dragged a pouting Nico behind him into the kitchen, Percy was unable to stop laughing from his position on the couch at the look on his lover's face, complete and utter confusion.

"Wait…wait, my favorite lips are in there," Nico yelled, pointing towards the couches.

"Maybe some coffee too," Grover thought aloud. "You shouldn't let Percy get you drunk, not that he could take advantage of you I guess."

"Damn straight!" Nico giggled. Grover handed him a small plate of food, a couple of hot wings and enchiladas. "I'm not hungry,"

"Just nibble on it for a while, I'll put some coffee on for you."

"I'm not thirsty either!" Nico laughed and Grover shook his head, he hadn't been expecting to deal with drunk people until well after he was inebriated himself.

"Take that back in there, Percy might feed you." Nico perked up at the sound of Percy's name and he turned around, walking back into the living room. Grover shook his head and quickly set up a pot of coffee, it was probably best for him to be doing this now instead of later on. Back in the reclining room Nico seated himself beside Percy, who had turned the television on, truthfully he was glad to be distracted from his Annabeth worries, everything had been going fine in their break-up, he didn't think she had very much right to be upset with him, it wasn't as if he'd cheated on her with the continuation of their relationship in mind.

But Nico sat down again and Percy sat up. "Welcome back," He smiled and handed Nico another wine cooler.

"Here," Nico said and gave Percy the food. "Grover said something about you feeding yourself or something." Percy smiled because he knew that that was _not_ what Grover had given Nico the food for, but truthfully he just wanted to see what kind of drunk the boy was, he wouldn't be too far behind him. Nico twisted the lid to the alcoholic beverage off and immediately began to chug it.

"Whoa—whoa, no, slow down babe." Percy laughed, helping him to tip the bottle back down. "It's better if you nurse it." Nico did as he was told, and he leaned against Percy, slipping under his arm. They settled in on the couch, Nico getting slowly more drunk but the warm distraction of Percy's right side made him quiet, if not a bit lusty. When the taller brunet began watching basketball Nico decided that he wanted to make-out and grabbed Percy's face.

"I wanna a kiss," He said, but it sounded like: eye wunna kees. Percy's eyes tarried back over to the television momentarily, the Cavaliers were on and he hadn't gotten to watching this particular game. "Percy!"

"Sorry, sorry." Percy laughed and Nico moved over into his lap.

"You like sports more than you like me," Nico pouted.

"No way," Percy smirked and Nico stole a kiss, inexpertly working his tongue into Percy's mouth, trying, and failing, to imitate the way Percy had kissed him earlier. Percy smiled into the kiss and gingerly tongued Nico back, wrapping the muscle around the other boy's and eliciting a moan from the slim Italian.

"We need a spray bottle to keep those two apart." Rachel's laughing voice broke through the intimate air of the room. "Sports and sex, I bet you're in heaven right now Perce."

"More than heaven," Percy said and he had trouble pulling Nico off of him.

"Horny," Nico whispered in his ear.

"Rachel's here," Percy laughed. "And so is Juniper." Turning around as if he hadn't just heard Rachel speak it was as if he were seeing them for the first time and a brilliant smile took over Nico's features.

"Oh shit," said Rachel. "he's drunk."

"Already?" Juniper asked with a look of concern.

"Hey babe," Grover said coming into the room with a mug. "Hey Rach,"

"Why does everyone call me that?" Rachel sighed. "Also, why is he drunk already?"

"Percy's taking advantage of our youngest friend," Grover supplied handing Nico the cup of coffee. "Here, drink this." Taking a seat on the couch beside the embracing couple he pulled Juniper to his own lap. "I've been missing you,"

"I missed you too Gro-Gro," Juniper pressed her lips lightly against Grover's. "I'll go set up the food, come help me in the kitchen, baby." The lanky teen's eyebrows waggled and Juniper laughed at his antics, then she grabbed his hand and pulled him off towards the kitchen.

"Well damn, I'm making-out with the first person who walks through that just so I have something to do while all my friends suck face with each other." Rachel sighed and crossed her arms, and they waited for the first few guests to arrive. Hilariously the first person to walk through the door was Mina Beauregard, Selena's slightly younger sister, and Percy laughed because, although beautiful, Mina was notoriously frigid when it came to the boyfriends she had had; Percy was sure she'd never even kissed with any of them.

"Good luck with that," Percy smiled, elbowing Rachel lightly.

"Challenge accepted," Rachel smirked back, she pulled her hair into a ponytail, making sure it was out of her face, and then she grabbed two wine coolers and sauntered her way towards the white-blonde haired girl. Percy laughed again and waved to Selena and Charles Beckendorf followed closely behind Rachel's newest conquest. They smiled back at him, and when Charles motioned to Nico he mouthed 'Annabeth' and Percy shook his head. Charles shrugged and continued on into the party, at some point Grover had switched the speaker systems on and radio play music was streaming all over the house.

More and more people began to show up and eventually it starting looking like a dressed down version of prom. Thankful of the locked doors that blocked people from messing up too much stuff Grover went around greeting people and making sure they were nice and un-sober, and he was generally being a good host. After some point Percy had misplaced Nico, the younger man had said he was going to the bathroom, but that had been a good twenty minutes ago. "Have you seen Nico?" He asked Chris Rodriguez, who was holding hands with the not stocky but muscular girl Clarisse.

"Go away, Jackson." Clarisse said, trying to look like she and Chris hadn't been going at it like rabbits, but her angular face was flushed rather red.

"I think he's downstairs, they set up Rock Band down there." Chris said, forever the redeeming factor for Clarisse's unbridled grouchiness. How he dealt with her no one was sure.

"Christ," Percy said and then thanked Chris and Clarisse and was moving towards the stairs all in the same moment. True to Chris' word Rock Band had been set up downstairs on their, and standing between a couple of guitar players and in front of a drummer was Nico di Angelo, swaying back and forth as he sang. Percy had always thought Nico had a good voice, and even in his slightly drunken stupor he was still true to his word, even if he was singing Paramore. What Percy found comical about the situation was that in one hand was a microphone which was pressed to his lips, and in the other was an open can of Miller Light. There was absolutely no telling how much Nico had had to drink in the time Percy had been unable to find him.

When the song ended Percy grabbed the microphone out of Nico's hand quickly and apologized to the rest of the "band" as he stole their protesting singer. "Having fun?" Percy asked, feeling a buzz himself, but unlike Nico he was more of an experienced drinker than he let on. He and Grover had been getting alcohol from Grover's cousin since said relative had turned of age. Nico didn't say anything else as he noticed whose arms he had been captured by, instead he let Percy drag him up the stairs, then in a quick and lucid motion he had him pinned down against the wall. "Ni—"

Nico forced his mouth down on Percy's before he could say anything; there was a small gasp from the people around who weren't exactly clued into their situation. Word had travelled around school that Nico was gay, but what had transpired between him and the more popular jockish brunet hadn't yet gained any gossipmongers. "Percy," Nico said, his eyes drooping a little. "I've never been this drunk."

"You've never been drunk at all before, buddy." Percy reminded him.

"Oh yeah," Then Nico smiled and kissed him again. "You wanna do it?" For the first time in their history as friends and then more Percy founding himself blushing; it wasn't from the question itself, but the fact that it had been asked so loudly. Everyone that could hear them over the music was staring as if they were waiting on Percy's response. Now, embarrassment aside, Percy was still a teenage boy with a newly unleashed libido. He swallowed thickly and nodded his head, and Nico grinned even wider.

"What happened to that coffee you were supposed to drink?"

"It was disgusting! I only drink Premium Colombian Roasted coffee!" Percy just shook his head with a smile and let Nico lead him to the room that had been reserved for them. When they opened the door they were presented two very white skinned girls who were down to their bras and panties, embracing deeply. One girl with beautiful straight hair so fair it was almost white, and the other with hair the color of burning coals. Mina's bright baby blue eyes widened at seeing Percy and Nico emerging into the room, but then Rachel bit into her collarbone and she stifled a moan.

"This room's occupied, Perce," Rachel informed him as if she didn't have time to stop, her fingers leaving angry red marks along Mina's beautiful milk white skin. Percy's mouth fell open, and Nico huffed, upset they had to find somewhere else. "You just going to stand there and watch?" This time her voice was angry and Percy blinked, then he closed the door as quickly as he opened it.

"That was so hot." Was all Percy could say and Nico was pulling him along to another room. They stood outside of Grover's room, but this time Percy knocked on the door. It took about fifteen seconds for a shirtless Grover to answer the door, his pants unbuckled.

"What's up?" He asked, his lips puffed up and his eyes slightly glazed over.

"Rachel took the guest room," Percy said. "You mind if we use your mom's?" Grover looked like he was going to protest, but Juniper called his name and he bit his lips.

"Yeah, sure, whatever, just—uh—clean it back up, okay?" Percy smiled and clasped hands with Grover.

"Get it, G-man."

"I'd say you too, but Nico's already coming out of his shirt so I think it's a sure thing." Percy turned around and sure enough his normally very conservative friend turned lover was halfway out of his clothing. He didn't have time to admire Nico's flawless and smooth body, he might have if the boy hadn't begun to unbutton his pants.

"Yeah, okay. I'm sure Charlie'll keep everyone in line,"

"Yeah," Juniper called his name again and Grover looked like someone had given him the key to the city. "I gotta go." The door was closed in their faces and Percy stopped Nico before he could completely come out of his pants.

"Come on babe, one more room to go," They made it to Nico's parent's room and Percy ran his hand along the door frame and grabbed the hidden key, he opened the door. "After you," He smiled as Nico walked into the nondescript bedroom and they landed on the enormous bed in the middle of it, Percy closing and locking the door behind him.

When they were done Nico felt a mix of pain and pleasure, pain mainly because he still wasn't exactly used to being penetrated, and pleasure because being penetrated was quite possibly one of the best experiences of his life. His mind was slowly losing the boozy fog that had worked its way over his thoughts in no small thanks to Percy. He didn't have a hangover, but then again he wasn't sure that he would be so lucky in the morning. "Why do I ever leave the bed if you're in it" Percy asked, his chest heaving.

"That's a good question, I think I'll petition your mom to just give you all day bed passes," Nico laughed and Percy kissed him. "Wanna go again?"

"Nico," Percy laughed this time. "We have to get back to the party," Nico's brow drew together in annoyance and Percy laughed again, kissing the small wrinkle off of his—was Nico his boyfriend? Yes. Off of his boyfriend's forehead. "You know, Paul wants us to go college."

"I can't afford…" Nico started, and then he stopped himself. "I mean maybe I can now; where?"\

"The university he works at, says he'll get us in, probably for free, and that if we don' know what we want to do we can just work on general education."

"That—what do you think? We don't have anything else to do, and it _would_ be nice to have a college degree. Plus, it's free, who can argue with free?"

"I know, I told him I was going to go, but that I wasn't sure if you would want to come." Nico snuggled closer to Percy.

"I want to be wherever you are."

"God this is so much better," Percy let his head hit the pillow. "This relationship. Do you know what it's like to have someone agree with you? It's like the best thing ever."

"You're the best thing ever," Nico said.

"You're still drunk, and I have an easily inflated ego, just so you know I won't stop comments like that anymore." He kissed Nico again and Nico rolled on top of him, pushing their naked bodies together. "Nico…"

"Just one more time?" Nico begged.

"Damn it, I think you're turning into a nympho." Then they were kissing again. "Just one more time, then we really should go have fun with our friends." Nico didn't answer, instead he surrendered under Percy's touch all too happily, smiling that he had gotten his way. He'd gone so long without ever getting his way and it felt good.

When they finally emerged the party was still in relatively full swing. A few people had left, but mostly everyone was still there. When they thought that Juniper and Grover weren't watching Percy and Grover exchanged high fives and fist bumps, and perhaps half an hour later a disheveled Mina Beauregard stepped her way out of the guest room. Her eyes were wide and her knees were weak, but she was smiling from ear to ear as she leaned against Rachel.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" Mina asked.

"Sure, sweetpea." Rachel laughed and for the show of Percy and Grover and anyone else who might have been interested she grabbed the girl to her and kissed her deeply, theatrically. It was a movie kiss, the kind that was seen but few people had ever actually had as she leaned the girl back, testing her flexibility and her years of ballet. God, Rachel loved ballet now, it made the body so limber.

"Mina, we have to go," Selena said, not amused. "Thank you Rachel for deflowering my sister."

"It's my specialty," Rachel smiled, and Charles shook his head behind his fuming girlfriend, trying desperately to hide a smile. Secretly he thought Rachel was hilarious, but if he let his girlfriend know that she would have his head. He waved good-bye to them and took the Beauregard girls back home. "I love blondes,"

"I prefer brunets," Percy and Grover said at the same time and they laughed together, high fiving.

"That might have been sweet," Juniper said.

"If you two didn't hang out way too much," Nico finished for her. They spent the rest of the night mingling amongst other people, setting system in every room that had a television (all but Grover's room and his mom's room of course) and hooking games. Most of the girls opted not to play, instead talking amongst each other and or trying to persuade her sweet heart to pay attention to her instead of that silly old game. Rachel on the other hand grabbed the first player controller and dared anyone to take it from her.

It was around three thirty when the party finally dispersed completely. Nico, Percy, Rachel, and Juniper stuck around to help Grover get everything back in order and Juniper decided she was spending the night, so that just left Percy and Nico and Rachel. Percy gave Nico a fist bump and one of those so often seen "bro" hugs, and Nico just opted for the worn out fist bump. He waited for Percy to get done, then he turned to Juniper and hugged her, and when Rachel was done with her good-byes they headed out the door.

To Percy's surprise Rachel's car was outside the house. "How did you—"

"We took a cab to the restaurant and I got my car, Juniper drove Grover's here," She pointed over to Grover's car.

"I'll be damned," Percy laughed, Nico leaning against him sleepily.

"You okay to drive?" Rachel asked. "If not give me your keys now and I'll take you both home."

"Nah, I'm cool, I didn't have nearly enough to drink, this guy had enough for both of us." She looked at him, then examined him more closely.

"Alright, goodnight boys." She hugged them and they hugged her back then they parted ways and Percy drove them to Nico's apartments without any difficulty. He smiled as he had to drag Nico up the stairs and he reached in the younger boy's pockets to get his keys.

"Mmmm…" Nico said, trying to kiss Percy.

"No, just grabbing your keys, Neeks." Percy said with a low laugh then he very quietly opened the door. With one movement Percy swept Nico's feet out from underneath him and picked him up bridal style, feeling a sort of repeating pattern as he brought Nico inside. He felt lucky not to encounter Hades, but remembered Persephone most likely had him detained to the bedroom. Then he opened Nico's door and placed the boy on his bed, closing the door behind him. He had their tuxes in the car and he'd take them back as soon as he had them dry cleaned.

"You're staying the night, right?"

"I can if you want me to," Percy said kneeling down and placing a kiss on Nico's forehead.

"Then get your ass in bed."

"Let me finish undressing you first, then I will." The taller of the two teens pulled Nico's shoes off, then next came his pants. He quickly pulled off his own clothes, leaving only a pair of cotton boxers on as he normally only slept in so much. Soon they were nodding off, Nico before Percy, and that left only him awake.

Suddenly his phone rang and he got up out of the bed to get it. He stared at the screen and his heart jumped into his throat. Slowly he put the speaker up to his ear and said, "Dad?"

"Hey Perseus, I'm glad you're still up." Poseidon's voice was strong, not an ounce of sleep in his speech. "How was prom?"

"It was…good." Percy said, sure that his father wasn't calling to ask him how prom had gone at three o'clock in the morning.

"Good. I remember my senior prom, I got drunk off my ass and fell in love with your mother." Poseidon laughed and Percy felt a lick of sudden anger leap inside his chest. After everything his father had done he was calling and talking about drunkenly falling in love with his mother? "You've probably guessed this isn't a social call." Poseidon said.

"I figured as much." Percy replied.

"Your mother called me," Poseidon said. "I've been sitting at home for the past nine hours trying to think of how to have this conversation."

Percy sighed, he wanted to say, "What conversation Dad? This is the first time we've spoken in almost ten years, Mom told you I was with a guy and now you're showing an interest in my life?" But instead he remained quiet, silent anger like a fire in his chest.

"You're not…you're not gay are you, son?"

"What makes you ask that?" Percy asked, keeping his voice in check. He had to remember that he had just had one of the most fun nights of his life in a long time, good friends, good booze, good food, and a good lay, he couldn't let this ruin that.

"Sally, she said you were with that di Angelo kid, I didn't think you guys would even still be friends with that kid,"

"Well," Percy said, his words measured and calculated. "I don't know what to tell you Dad, I am with that di Angelo kid, he's my boyfriend." Poseidon cursed and he sighed, and then he cursed again.

"Percy," He said. "You don't have to be…you know, that way. The way I understand it that kid messed with your head, you're not thinking straight."

"Well obviously," Percy said, smiling ironically and without humor, it was almost a sneer. "Did you call just to see if I was gay or not"

"I—what's that supposed to mean?" Poseidon asked, and Percy could see his big bearded face looking hurt and confused, trying to make Percy think he had been in the wrong for asking the question.

"I haven't seen you Dad, haven't heard from you in all this time, I don't even know where the hell you are." Percy's anger slipped through into his speech, peppering his words.

"You have my number Percy, you could always have called me." Poseidon said as if he were talking to a child. "Don't try to play the blame game on me, this is about your new found attraction to men."

"My attraction to—I'll have you know that I'm still attracted to women, assmunch." Percy spat into the phone. "Just because I can like both, I have a hard enough time coping with it, I don't need you trying to make me feel any less good about myself. I feel great. Nico is a great kid, you don't know him at all. Hell you don't know me."

"Perseus Jackson, I am your father, watch your tone when you speak to me." Poseidon's voice was venomous. "And watch how you talk to me, you will show me some respect."

"You're my genetic contributor," Percy said angrily. "My Dad's name is Paul Blofish, you might've heard of him, he's married to my mother, and he's never cheated on her, and he never will." Then in his furious state of mind he slammed the phone closed. He sat down on the bed, , he hadn't realized how tightly he had been gripping his hands into fist and he unclenched them, letting the blood flow back into them. Tears streamed out of his eyes unbidden and he ran a hand through his hair.

A pair of arms wrapped around Percy's shoulders then, and pulled him down onto the bed. Percy curled into Nico and cried while the presumed sleeping boy stroked his hair and shushed him. Slowly but surely they both fell back into a fitful sleep, Percy's dreamless and fatigue draining and Nico's relatively the same, just with a protective arm wrapped around his lover and friend, around the young man who had taken all his senses and turned them inside out. "I love you, Nico." Percy whispered in his sleep, and more tears fell out of his eyes.

"I love you too," Nico said and then they were lost to their tiredness.


	11. Chapter 11

Nico woke up the next morning with a wince. Percy was sitting at the head of his bed mindlessly playing a game on the 360 and Nico wondered how the other boy's head wasn't throbbing like his was. One thing he was thankful for was that Percy still hadn't clothed himself, and instead sat there in naught but his boxers, but that fact was beset by the pain in both his head and his ass. "Percy," Nico groaned, falling back into the bed. Percy looked over his shoulder and paused the game.

"Good morning, sleepyhead," Percy said with a faint smile. "There's aspirin on the table beside you and some water." He looked over and grabbed the medicine, downing it quickly and the water as well, his throat was horribly dry.

"God, I feel horrible. Did we have sex?"

"Oh, gee, thanks," Percy said dryly and Nico rolled his eyes.

"You try getting something shoved inside you and see how good you feel in the morning," He returned. "Didn't mean to hurt your pride." Percy smiled and crawled over to Nico, pushing him down into the bed. The slimmer of the two noticed that he too was in almost just his boxers as well, a thin shirt around his arms. They kissed and Nico wrapped his arms around Percy's neck. "If I could remember it I'd tell you it was the best sex anyone's ever had."

"You're a horny little bastard when you're drunk," Percy smirked, kissing him again. Their legs were pressed against each other, Percy's much hairier than Nico's, and if he was feeling better the Italian might have started something, instead he just enjoyed the feeling of Percy on top of him. "You wouldn't believe it was you, taking your clothes off in hallways, climbing on top of me, singing on Rock Band at the top of your voice." Nico blushed furiously.

"I did not,"

"I swear you did, you were right though, had I gotten you drunk before all this you would have definitely been sticking your tongue down my throat, you begged me for sex." Nico blushed even further. "Do it again,"

"I'm in pain, you bastard. I won't be walking much today," Percy laughed, the way it shook them made it painfully clear just what kind of position they were in, and Percy's laugh turned into something deeper, more guttural.

"Maybe something else?" Percy asked, thrusting his hips forward.

"What do you have in mind?" Nico answered with a question, again Percy smirked and kissed his way to the boy's neck, then lifting his shirt and continuing on, dipping his tongue into the boy's navel, and stopping at Nico's waistband. "You're—Percy, you're not serious?"

"I'll do you if you do me," Then that mischievous look took over his face and Nico's heart beat in his chest, but he still wasn't feeling it.

"I'll do you," Nico said and half pulled, half yanked Percy back up to him. The older, more Grecian boy moaned when he was groped and he couldn't really argue with Nico's logic, if he was crazy enough to turn down a blowjob then there was no helping him. Nico still felt like crap, but he messily led a trail of saliva down to Percy's bellybutton, then he pulled down Percy's boxers and he was always amused to see the piece of meat just lying there, begging to be attended. "You're excited,"

"I have reason to be," Percy smirked. "Try it," Nodding Nico experimentally placed the semi-flaccid thing in his mouth and almost instantly it jumped, shooting forward and suddenly brimming with life. Percy moaned like Nico had never heard him moan before and it made his own member twinge with want for attention. "God, Nico…suck on it."

"You're so dirty about things," Nico said, trying to seem unamused but he couldn't help the smile on his lips before he went back to working. He got it halfway down his throat when he choked, and his stomach lurched. Swallowing hard he settled the contents of his stomach, then Percy thrust the slightest bit forward and again Nico gagged, he pulled Percy from his mouth and bounded to the door, across the hall, and into the bathroom. Loudly he emptied what lied in his stomach from the night before, and the two aspirin from this morning. He groaned and then heaved again. His head still ached and his ass still hurt. He flushed the toilet, and with a bit of resignation and trepidation he stood up and then he brushed his teeth, making sure to keep the toothbrush away from going down his throat too far.

He rinsed with mouthwash and made his way back into his room. Percy stood beside the bed, a look of concern on his face and his mouth half poised to ask a question. "I'm fine," Nico said. "My stomach was just upset."

Relief flooded into Percy's face, and Nico tried not to be surprised when Percy picked him up and put him back on the bed, covering him with his body. "Kind of killed the mood, Neeks." Percy smiled and he tried to kiss Nico again, but the darker brunet held up a finger to Percy's lips.

"I just threw up, that's disgusting." Nico said.

"Oh," Understanding flashed around Percy's features and then he smiled again. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Oh my," Persephone gasped as she walked by Nico's room with a basket of laundry in her hands. "I, uh, didn't know you were home, dear." Her cheeks tinged a bright red, she was clothed in a black nightgown, the shoulder straps made of fringe, as was the hem, and the thing was very thing, showing her white brassiere underneath. She turned her eyes away from the two boys. "Um, how was prom?"

Nico, too, was blushing suddenly. "It…was…good," He said.

"Persephone, my love what are you staring at—" Hades stopped at the door, then his eyes went with a mix of astonishment and shock. "Nico, you're home." He said in a very tight voice. "Hello, Percival."

"Hi, sir." Percy smiled awkwardly.

"You're on top of my son," Hades said decidedly. "Naked to boot,"

"He's wearing underwear, Dad." Nico sighed, even when everything was going his way nothing was going his way.

"Right. Well, you two look busy, there're condoms in your drawer, and, uh, keep it down, the game's on." Then with a definitive slam he closed the door, and Nico sighed heavily.

"If the moment weren't already dead I would say that we killed it again,"

"We didn't just kill the moment, it resurrected itself as a zombie, and we shot it on in the chest, and then again in the head, double-tap." Nico laughed once, wryly, and Percy snuck in a kiss. "You're so gross,"

"Sorry, I can't help it; your lips look like they need to be kissed. Minty though." Nico rolled his eyes, and again he found he was smiling, beside himself. "Thank you, for last night, by the way."

"You don't have to thank me for sex Percy, it's more a pleasure for me than I let on." Nico shrugged, Percy half smirked at that and shook his head.

"No you goober, I meant thanks for what you did after my Dad called me." Percy cuddled in closer beside Nico, who told him he couldn't remember it and so Percy told him the quick tale all over again, not sparing any details.

"You don't have to thank me for that either, Percy. I don't ever want you to hurt,"

"Still," Percy smiled. "I still owe you a dance, so how about tonight when you're feeling better?"

Here Nico smiled, "Yeah, okay." Percy's phone began ringing and reluctantly he let go of Nico and retrieved it from the counter.

"I bet you threw up your aspirin, go get some more," Percy said before he looked at his phone, Nico nodded and got up.

"Do you want anything?"

"In a minute," He said and flipped the phone open. "Hello?" Watching Nico leave he finally let emotion fill his throat. "Annabeth?"

"Percy, hi." The reply wasn't angry, it wasn't happy either. It was almost blasé by the sound of it. "Rachel keeps telling me to call you so we can talk, and I keep thinking you'll call me first, but then I forget that you're not the type to call first,"

"Sorry, about that." Percy said into the phone. "I'm so sorry about everything—"

"No, Percy. You're not sorry, you feel sorry for me, but you're happy the way things turned out." Annabeth said. "If I were you I guess I'd be happy too, after two years I guess I did know we were going in opposite directions, but I never thought you'd find what you were looking for in another guy." This time her voice had the slightest tinge of jealously.

"Annabeth—"

"But you said you loved me, and that you always would, and I believe that, and…I love you too Percy, and I'm realizing now that we just can't really be together, we don't want the same things, and I can't make you into someone else, someone who's interested in doing what I want them to do, besides a boyfriend would distract from my studies," Percy laughed here and he could almost feel Annabeth smile. "We'll be friends won't we?" She asked; her voice thick with emotion.

"Yeah, of course Annabeth, we'll always be friends. Best friends."

"Good. I won't see you, or anyone else, again till Summer time, I'm going out to the school and getting my new apartment set up, and making sure all my classes are right—" That was just like Annabeth, five months before the new semester started and she was already two steps ahead of everyone. "I suspect you'll get a job at least, don't just spend your Summer doing nothing if I can't get you in school."

Then Percy really did smile and told her about the deal he had with Paul. "So don't worry about me, alright? We'll hang out all Summer, I'll see if Mom will let us use Paul's beach shack down in Florida again."

"That thing isn't a shack Percy, it's a two story home, just because its on the beach doesn't mean you can rightly call it that," And that was when he knew they were going to be okay, Annabeth and him. "Look, I'm going to go, I do have tons of things to do."

"Busy, busy. Alright, good-bye Annabeth."

"See you later, Percy." Then they hung up and Percy set his phone aside, he decided he would go search out Nico instead of finishing his game, it wasn't like he didn't know the end to it already. So he went and found the boy in the kitchen, drinking a mug of coffee slowly.

"Did you know I had Premium Colombian Roast beans on my counter?" Nico asked.

"No, I didn't." Percy smiled and Nico handed him a note. It read, _For Nico_ , _because I know you'll need it_. In loopy cursive handwriting and it was signed Rachel Elizabeth Dare, Percy chuckled absently at that and kissed Nico on the forehead. "Smells good."

"Get your own," Nico said pulling the cup to his chest. "I've been waiting my whole life for this cup of coffee."

"Ouch. Outranked by coffee, makes me feel like the world's most loved boyfriend." For a minute he wasn't sure what he had said, because the way Nico was looking at him curious. "What?" He asked.

"You said…boyfriend." Nico said, his lips twitching with a smile.

"Oh, yeah, guess I did." Percy laughed. "That's what I am, right? You're boyfriend?" Nico was nodding dumbly, as if his head was on a broken hinge and he set down his mug of coffee, then he made a sound Percy wasn't sure was possible, something between a squeak and a squeal and Percy soon found himself hold a very light weight. He smiled when Nico kissed him, and enjoyed the taste of the delicious coffee.

"Geez, you kids are doing it everywhere." Persephone came into the kitchen, dressed in a billowy white blouse and a smart pair of jeans, comfortable flats around her feet.

"Sorry," Nico said, but Percy didn't put him down.

"I don't mind sweetie, just, uh, when you're going at it like that try to keep your door closed, I could see...well everything." Nico ducked his head into Percy's neck and the standing of the two laughed.

"We will," Percy laughed.

"Good. Your Dad and I are going out, do you guys wanna come?"

"Uh…no, I think we'll find something to do." Nico said, finally getting Percy to set him back on the ground, though he put his arms around him. "Hey, um, Persephone?"

"Yes, dear?" Persephone asked.

"Thanks for, you know, making my Dad happy." The woman smiled warmly at that and Nico could see why his father was so fetched about her, she was an unrivaled beauty, a dark jewel that shone with such fey brilliance.

"I think you should thank him for making me happy as well," She said. "Promise me you two will come up for air and eat, keep hydrated. Hydration is key to staying healthy," Nico laughed and promised he would and then two slim but muscular arms wrapped themselves around the woman and she smiled.

"Hey there beautiful, someone like you must have a husband?" Hades asked, biting her ear.

"Well, I have a fiancé, but for a tall, dark stranger like you I think I can spare a kiss or two," She kissed him and Hades smirked into it. By the look of them they had been together for years, they fit together so perfectly. "You know, you have the sweetest son."

"I'd like it better if he stayed dressed, and out of bed with Percy Jackson," Hades said, casting his eyes up at his son who just sort of smiled at him. "But what can you do? He's alright."

"Love you too, Dad." Hades took Persephone by the hand and pulled her to the door.

"Stay out of trouble," He called over his shoulder and then they were gone.

"You would think they'd stop leaving us alone together," Percy smiled and Nico laughed.

"Still not in the mood," He said, but he leaned against Percy and picked up his cup again, drinking deeply. "But this is helping settle my stomach."

"Hangovers are hell," Percy laughed. "Let's go see what's on TV since I'm not getting any." Nico stuck his tongue out and Percy laughed, kissing his cheek and picking him up again. The shorter boy held tightly to his cup of coffee as if it was his life's blood and again Percy laughed. "You're addicted."

"Only slightly. How much do you think tickets to Columbia cost?"

"I'm sure if you ask Rachel sweetly enough she'll have some shipped to you," Percy smiled and sat them on the couch, turning on the television. Nico leaned against Percy, his fingers playing with the dusting of happy trail hair that the brunet had. Percy smiled, but he watched the game while Nico entertained himself.

"Have I ever told you that you should wear briefs?" Nico asked, fingering the material of Percy's boxers. "You've got nice legs." Percy chuckled to himself.

"I'll wear them if you want me to, I've never thought much about my underwear." He smirked. "I like your legs, you're never going to get hair on them." Percy smacked the back of Nico's leg hard enough to make the loud skin on skin sound, but not hard enough to actually hurt.

"It's not my fault," Nico glared.

"I was surprised you had any hair on your balls," Percy continued to tease. "And you don't have much under your arms either." Instantly the shorter boy's expression turned from a pout to anger, Percy couldn't help but laugh. "I'm just kidding," He smirked again, kissing Nico. "After this I guess we can go underwear shopping." When Nico blushed Percy chuckled and turned back to the game, so what if he and Hades watched reruns of games they'd already seen, it was still interesting to Percy.

"You're serious?" Nico asked.

"Well I don't have any tighty-whities and my baby wants to see me in them," And sometimes, Nico thought to himself, he could just smack that smile off of Percy's face.

"You're so dumb," He rolled his eyes, resisting the urge to crack a smile. They sat in a comfortable silence till the game was over, Nico resting on Percy and still lazily trailing his hand up and down the teen's chest and stomach, then, when the ballgame finished Percy stood up and said, "Ready?" And Nico looked up at him. "You're serious?" He asked and the taller young man nodded his head.

"If you ask me to do something I'll do it, Neeks," Percy said and he grabbed Nico's hand and pulled him up. "Besides, it's not anything big." He smirked and pressed their lips together.

"I mean, you don't have to if you don't want to," Nico shrugged, trying desperately to hide his blush. "I just thought they'd look nice."

"You think they'll look hot," Percy corrected. "Fetishist."

"Stop reading the dictionary to find out what things mean," Nico rolled his eyes. "I don't even want to know how you came across that one."

"Looking at porn," Percy laughed. "you know, apparently girl-on-girl is a fetish, and well, don't Google image search that word." Again Nico rolled his eyes. "It's not like I _knew_ or anything,"

"Yeah, okay." Nico smiled. "Sure you didn't."

"Hey, you're the one with the underwear fetish, not me." Percy countered and Nico was suddenly silenced. "Point me." He smiled and kissed the younger boy again.

"Just because…I mean only sick people…we're not going." Was finally the definitive response and Nico crossed his arms and sat back down on the couch.

"What? Why not?" Percy laughed and positioned himself so he sat across Nico's lap at a strange angle, his body was much longer than the slim Italian's so he was sort of hanging off of him.

"Because people with fetishes are weirdos, and I'm not a weirdo." His face set in the grim look Percy knew to be a pout and he laughed again. They were laughing so much the two of them, and smiling and he wondered if they would be annoying to other people, then he wondered how long the laughing and smiling would last between them. It hadn't lasted too incredibly long in his relationship with Annabeth, and he didn't want another break-up. He wanted this to work and he would do whatever it took to make it work. Seeing the somber expression cross Percy's face not an instant after he had been smiling Nico dropped all pretense of being annoyed and lightly kissed his face. "Don't think so hard," He said.

"Come on, I really want to do this now," Percy replied. "You won't be a weirdo just for liking something, how about you wear them too, it'll be sort of like a secret between us, something we can both share. Everyone can see our relationship, but only you get to see my underwear." And as corny as it was Nico found himself smiling, not a lovey-dovey happy smile, but one of amusement and joy. "That's a yes,"

"It is," Nico said. "But only on the condition that you don't call me weird,"

"You are weird," Percy laughed. "But you're my kind of weird."

"I'm going to get you a job at Hallmark,"

"If it pays the bill," Then Percy grabbed Nico's hand again and pulled him up once more. "I'm serious though, let's go buy underwear!" Something about that word made Nico's cheeks burn again and Percy just shook his head, pulling the boy along beside him so they could actually put clothes on.

"You want to make a shopping day out of it? I can get us some new clothes and stuff for school." Percy sighed then.

"I hate shopping days, Annabeth just dragged me along behind her."

"Well I'm not Annabeth, we'll do whatever you want too."

"Whatever?" He grabbed a handful of Nico's ass and the younger teen nearly jumped.

"Not that. Not today you freaking horndog."

"You'd say yes if I got you another bitch beer." Percy grumbled and then they proceeded to dress, putting on deodorant, brush their teeth, and going as teenage boys don't generally spend large amounts of time on hygiene. Most anyway, at least Percy and Nico didn't. When they got outside Percy gasped. "Shit. I still have Paul's Rover." He said looking at the black SUV parked on the street.

"Is that a problem?" Nico asked.

"I don't know, he's never let me drive it before," He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. "Hold on and I'll see if it is," He dialed Paul's number and his stepdad answered the phone on the third ring.

"Percy, hi." He said.

"Hey Paul, you don't care that I sort of stole the Range Rover last night do you?"

"Nah, keep it today too, I figured you would spend the night with Nico or maybe Grover, I'm driving your Mom's car and she's driving yours." Paul told him.

"Oh, okay. Thanks," Percy smiled.

"Hey, Perce, before you go any word from Nico about NYU? Does he want to come?"

"Yeah, he said that it would be a good experience for both of us," Percy laughed, misquoting Nico on purpose. What he'd actually said was that they had nothing better to do, but Paul might not feel so great about that.

"Good, I knew he had a good head on his shoulders," Paul laughed. "Well I'll get your paperwork filled out, and bring you what you need to look over and sign and a list of classes, semester starts in Fall, in August."

"Alright, we'll get all that done soon then," Percy said.

"Okay, I have to go son, I've got another class in a couple of minutes, stay out of trouble."

"We always do," Then they exchanged good-byes and the taller teen hung up the phone. "It's cool; also, we'll have some paperwork for school to do later on."

"Great." Nico said sarcastically.

"It won't be that bad," Percy laughed and they climbed into the car, driving to the mall. Nico decided that he liked Percy's driving a considerable amount more than he liked Rachel's, for one Percy kept his eyes on the road when he talked, and two he didn't keep his music quite as loud. Speaking of Rachel Nico sighed.

"She'll kill us if we have a shopping day without her," Nico said.

"So let her kill us, we haven't really had an official first date yet, this'll be our first date." That made Nico smile and Percy turned the car off. "Come on," So Nico got out of the car and was overjoyed when Percy took his hand and brought him into the mall, the older teen had never been shy about anything, except perhaps the previous night when Nico was practically mounting him in front of a house full of their friends, but that was understandable. He dove head first into things like relationships unabashed and he didn't care what anyone thought about the two of them holding hands, if he hadn't cared when he was sure he wasn't attracted to other guys then he damn sure didn't care now that he had Nico. They entered the mall and stopped first in JC Penny's simply because neither of them liked Aeropostale or American Eagle, those kinds of stores weren't really where Nico's thoughts of taste lied. "I don't think I've ever been underwear shopping," Percy laughed as they made their way towards the men's department. "Normally they're just there in my drawer."

"That's because your mom spoils you," Nico laughed.

"She'll spoil you too," Percy smiled. "I'll spoil you if you want me to."

"You're already starting to," Nico said.

"But I haven't even bought you anything yet." Then the shorter, darker brunet rolled his eyes.

"I don't mean with gifts, Percy." Understanding crossed Percy's face and he smiled from ear to ear while he wrapped his arms around Nico's waist.

"So you do enjoy it," He said. "It's always hard to tell if you like the sex or you just like me,"

"Both, except it always hurts afterwards."

"I don't mean for it to," Percy said and Nico shrugged as if he could care less.

"I can handle a little pain," Even though it wasn't exactly a little pain, it was debilitating enough to stop him from walking for a couple hours at least, comfortably anyway. On that note they flipped through a few pairs of boxer briefs and regular cut briefs and grabbed a few packs of them in both their sizes, piling them into a basket that had been lying around. Then they moved on to shirts.

"Plaid, Neeks?" Percy asked as Nico held it up against his body, the smaller teen smiled.

"I think it'll look good on you, everything looks good on you." Percy rolled his eyes.

"You would say if I just paraded around naked I would look good."

"It's true," Nico laughed. "But just to comply with, you know, the law I'll try to keep you clothed outside of the bedroom." It occurred to him how much they had been talking about or having sex, they had not had a rest from one another and being as how this was his first relationship he wondered if other people were so consummate. It would have been a funny enough question to voice aloud, 'Do you think we have too much sex?' But it was perhaps one that needed to be asked, so Nico did.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"Well, I mean we've been together officially for what? Two days? And in that time we've just sort of been doing it like two—"

"Teenagers?" Percy laughed. "I hear those guys have sex a lot, more than us probably." Nico rolled his eyes; of course he was being sarcastic. "I'm sorry, you're serious." Percy said with a wide smile.

"I am." Nico said. "I don't want our relationship to be just solely based on sex."

"Are we having sex right now?" Percy asked.

"Well, no, but—"

"And you still like me right?" Percy continued.

"Yeah, but what if all we ever want to do is have sex?" Then Nico received the strangest look from Percy, as if the question in and of itself were practically comical.

"There's a problem with that?" Percy asked, grabbing a pair of jeans he liked and checking to see if they fit. "I think that we're both pretty mature enough to tell the other what's on his mind, right? If I do something that bothers you you'll tell me, and vice-versa, and if you ever wise up and stop liking me all I ask is that you let me know."

"As if I could ever stop loving you," Nico said. "But Percy, you don't love me, not yet anyway." The taller boy nodded his head and sighed.

"You know I will Nico, I really, _really_ like you and that's all that matters, but you know I just got out of a relationship with Annabeth, and you and I were fooling around at the end of that. I'm just not ready to say that yet, I'm not afraid that this won't work out because it will I'll make sure of that, but even on the smallest of chances it doesn't at least neither one of us will be as hurt as we can be. Is it okay for now for me to say I _will_ love you, and it'll come to me easily, I already can't stand to be away from you, and you've already taken over most of my thoughts, and if you don't sleep in the same bed as me but you're in the same house I'm sure I'll probably pick you up in your sleep and drag your ass into my room." He smiled. "So see, I'm well on my way, but it still hurts to think that it didn't work out with Annabeth, because she was my first love."

Nico understood. How could he not, so he leaned up and kissed Percy on the lips and said, "That's good enough for now then,"

"Your little mind is always thinking about the little things," Percy smiled, hands around Nico's hips holding their middles together tightly. "I'm glad I'm here to help you enjoy everything else."

"Me too," Nico smiled and they kissed again.

After a few more stores of shopping an idea crossed Percy's mind and he told Nico he was going to the bathroom and that he should keep shopping. So on his way off towards the bathroom he looked behind him to see that Nico had dropped into the gaming store to find a few more things to play now that he had a lot of extra cash and he turned into the party store. There he spotted who he was looking for. "Aaron," He said and the boy looked up from a magazine he was reading behind the counter, the store was mostly—as always—empty considering there weren't any big holidays coming up.

"Oh hey, uh, Percy right?" Aaron asked and Percy nodded. "What's up man? How are things with you and Nico?"

"They're good, we're dating now." Percy told him.

" _Tres bien fait_ ," Aaron smiled widely till he saw a look of confusion cross his face. "Sorry, I'm originally from France and sometimes French slips into my English. I meant to say good job, you enjoying life with a guy?"

"I gotta tell you, he's amazing." Percy smiled. "But I had a question, one of, you know, the sexual nature." Aaron laughed then, and leaned over the counter.

"Those are my favorite kinds of questions, if you're looking for a threeway though it's not going to happen." Percy looked askance at that and Aaron laughed again. "Okay…that's not what it was then, what's the question?"

It took him a few seconds to recover from that and he was beginning to think perhaps this was a bad idea, but he decided that he was already here now. "You're into dudes, right?"

"Really? Is that your question Percy?" The redhead asked with a look of disbelief.

"No. I'm sorry, geez that's not what I wanted to ask. But still, you've been with guys, like sexually right?"

"If you're asking me if you're a top or bottom—"

"No! I mean I get on top, and Nico's on bottom—"

Then Aaron's face cracked with a wide smile. "So you two have already done it. That kid was about to bust with sexual energy when he first came in here, I would have done the honors myself of taking his virginity if you hadn't come in with that blonde."

It occurred to Percy that he was slightly angered by that statement, but he pushed it aside and asked his question. "Well, yeah, I mean we're both not virgins anymore. But Nico gets hurt a lot, you know? Like he still bleeds and stuff, and I'm afraid he's not really enjoying it, he's loud and all but his face looks like it's all in pain and stuff."

"Ah, so you wanna know how to make it so it doesn't hurt." Percy nodded and Aaron laughed. "You are using lube right?" Again Percy nodded. "How much?"

"Like a handful," Percy said.

"No, no, no. You've got to use more than that since Nico's still pretty unused to it I'm sure."

The brunet sighed, "He's cool with it when I'm, like, fingering him and stuff, then when I stick it in is when the problems start happening."

Aaron smirked. "I'm glad you're comfortable enough about this to talk to me, most guys like you would clam up and not even admit that they were fucking another guy," Again that look of confusion passed over Percy's face.

"Guys like me?"

"Straight guys, or bi guys who don't admit they're bi anyway. Like I was saying, it sounds like you're just going too fast and too rough for him right now, you want to be more careful 'cause you can rip him inside and that's no fun, use more lube, go slower, and probably stretch him out some more. Also, give the sex a rest, you want him to keep that elasticity, if you pace yourselves it'll be just as good ten years from now as it was the first time."

"Wow. Maybe that's what he meant by we were having too much sex," Percy thought aloud.

"Could be, but then again for the guy on bottom a lot of time it's more an emotional thing than it is for the guy on top. I'm not saying it's like that all the time, but more often than not. He was crushing pretty bad when I met him, but now that you guys have gone all the way that's going to be multiplied by like fifty." Percy thought about that, Nico _had_ been pretty enamored with him before, to the point of tears, he couldn't fathom that being multiplied by fifty, he wasn't good with crying people. "Just treat him right and he'll stay happy if you're happy."

"Yeah, I can do that." Percy smiled. "Thanks so much, dude."

"Hey, it's what I'm here for, and I'm sure you're using condoms,"

"Yeah, everyone's been saying that to us, it's been 'condoms, condoms, condoms' nonstop." Percy said.

"That's because even if you two are virgins condoms are what's best, when you get into a more meaningful relationship they can come off, but me, I never fuck without one, and it's really not a good idea to considering everything that's going around nowadays." Aaron told him. "Hey, you be safe, I hear Sal back there waking so unless you're going to buy something you gotta go." Percy did in fact hear what others might have thought was the braying of a large bear, he held his hand out and shook Aaron's.

"Thanks again,"

"No problem," Aaron smiled and then thought of something, quickly he scribbled his number down on a piece of paper. "Here, call me if you have any more questions, or text me or whatever, find me on Facebook or something."

"Alright, yeah," Percy pocketed the phone number and with one last thanks he was out of the store. He quickly located Nico in Gamestop and snuck up on him, wrapping his arms around him and making the boy jump. "Did I scare you?" He asked, kissing his cheek.

"Yes," Nico said unamusedly. "Where the hell did you go?"

"I had to ask a man about a horse," Percy said, hugging Nico closer to him.

"If that's some weird bathroom term you can just keep it to yourself," Nico rebutted. "What do you think about getting Borderlands?"

"Never played it," Percy said.

"Me neither, I think it looks pretty cool though," He was looking at the case of the game and Percy couldn't help but feel him up just a little bit with their backs turned from the rest of the store. Nico let him do it but refused to make any sounds. "Alright, enough! We're in public," He said when Percy's hands started flitting with the hem of his jeans.

"You don't care when you're drunk," Percy laughed and kissed him again.

"Stop bringing that up! God, I feel like I should be mortified about that, but I can't remember it for the life of me."

"Don't worry, I remember it." Percy smiled. "Can we be done soon so we can go back to your house?"

"I'm surprised, Percy Jackson, the outdoorsmen is asking to go back in."

"We can do it outside if you want to," Percy said and he bit Nico's ear, sending a shiver down the boy's spine. "I'm not a fan of that idea, but hey, I'm all for trying new things." Of course, this was facetious but Percy loved messing with Nico.

"I'll be done soon, you freaking nympho." Nico groaned out more than he meant to.

"It takes one to know one," Percy smiled. "Plus, I kind of want to see you in those briefs now that you got me all curious." Nico was blushing as they made their way to the counter, the clerk gave them a look but didn't say anything, it took all kinds of people to make New York New York right? They were rung up and soon heading out of the store halfway through their shopping trip. Percy didn't remind Nico once that that morning he'd said he hadn't planned on doing anything, but he smiled besides himself knowing that Nico liked the sex, even if it was painful, and he was going to remedy that pain situation now.


	12. Chapter 12

" _Where_ did you learn that?" Nico asked with a heavy sigh, he had been touched in a way that made stars burst behind his eyes and he was happy his Dad hadn't been home because he hadn't even tried to stay quiet. Percy just smiled, grinning from ear to ear. "Percy, my God, I think you broke my brain." He was clinging tightly to the taller brunet like his life depended on it. "We have to go again."

"I think four times is good, Nico." Percy laughed, his whole body shaking.

"Holy hell, you were only gone for like ten minutes, I don't know what class you took in that time but I'll have to write the professor a message of thanks."

"Still think we're having too much sex?" Percy asked, a smirk on his face.

Nico was quiet for a minute, but his cheeks burned. "Shut up,"

"I'll take that as a 'no' then." Percy laughed. "What were you so worried about with that anyway?"

"I—I don't know, I've never done this before. I mean, it's something people get worried about right?" Nico asked, Percy shrugged.

"I only worry about stuff when there's a problem," Percy said. "But we can calm it down a little bit, Aaron said it was a good idea to pace it."

"Aaron? Like from The Ball?" Percy opened his mouth, and closed it, and it always astonished Nico when he blushed, if there was a way to make him do it more often he would. "You talked to Aaron? You asked Aaron for sex advice?" Nico was pleased to see Percy's blush deepen slightly. "Oh God, you're adorable."

"That's my line," Percy mumbled, Nico climbed on top of him as nude as the day he was born. Percy really loved Nico's thighs, they were slim and paler than the rest of his body because he didn't go parading around in nothing, but they were warm and inviting. He ran his hands up and down both of them and Nico smiled.

"One more time?"

"You called me a nympho," Percy said.

"I'm sorry, that was wrong of me," Nico said, leaning down and kissing him. "And you're right, a lot of sex isn't a problem, our relationship isn't based on it, its based on feelings."

"Right, and if you keep moving like that you're going to be feeling something," Percy said with a smile and Nico grinned, gyrating his hips. "You're really asking for it."

"I really am." Nico replied, Percy growled and flipped them around so that Nico was underneath him. He pushed their lips together and Nico smiled into the kiss until he felt Percy's tongue enter his mouth, then he moaned instead wrapping his arms around Percy's neck to deep the kiss.

It was midday when they emerged from the bedroom again, sticky with sweat and other liquids. Percy had finally convinced Nico to shower with him, something about it saving water or something, it hadn't been a very hard sell, and so they stood there, soapy and wet. But, thanks to all the…ahem, attention they had been giving one another the shower didn't go far past heavy petting. When it was over they dried and dressed slowly, and Nico couldn't help but pop Percy's waistband, smiling to himself as it snapped into place. "I like," He smiled, grabbing the taller boy's butt much the same way Percy was becoming accustomed to grabbing his.

"I'm glad, this was a good decision," Percy returned the smile, running his fingers underneath the elastic of the leg holes of Nico's briefs. Suddenly there was a knock at the front door and at the same time Percy's phone rang. He went over to the Nico's dresser and answer it. "G-man, what's up? You at the door?"

"Yeah Perce, we came to get you guys," Grover answered.

"To get us?" Percy asked.

"Come on man, you can't have forgotten, we graduate tomorrow, we're doing a practice walk in like half an hour." Grover laughed. "Dude, I know it's hard to stay out of the bedroom, but let us in, if you're dressed."

"We're halfway there, give us like five minutes," Percy smiled as he watched Nico bend over to pull on his pants. "Ten."

"Perce…"

"Okay, five." Percy smiled, cupping the young man's presented rear. He closed the phone. "We graduate tomorrow."

Nico's eyes widened suddenly. "Holy shit, we do!"

"Yeah apparently," Nico opened his closet and there was his graduation gown, a yellow note stuck to the plastic. ' _Picked this up for you, congratulations_.' It read, and it was definitely Persephone's handwriting because it was small, cursive and feminine whereas Hades was quick and large, efficient. Percy pulled his own pants on, glad that his mother had sent him the extra clothing even if he and Nico had gone shopping today. "Everyone's outside."

"How does Rachel do that? It's pretty scary, no one's allowed in unless they're buzzed up." Nico rolled his eyes pulling on a shirt.

"She's a very persuasive girl." Percy laughed and they made their way to the door. Standing there was their normal group of friends, even Annabeth was standing there, her hair was pulled back in a ponytail, she wore a loose shirt and a pair of jeans. She looked okay, her eyes were dry, but she wasn't smiling.

"Glad you two could be assed to get out of bed," Rachel smirked.

"We've been awake for a while," Nico told her. "We even went shopping this morning."

"Without me?" Rachel asked, a look of mock hurt taking over her face.

"And without me?" Annabeth asked, a small smile touching her lips.

"Sorry," Percy said. "It was a date." He gave Annabeth an apologetic look and she touched his shoulder absently.

"S'okay. Next time," She said and the group let the two of them have a silent moment. Then, Annabeth, being the smart girl that she was, cleared her throat to let everyone else know they were okay. "After we graduate tomorrow I'm heading out to the Academy, everyone's going to have to visit me during the Summer."

"I'll see if my Dad can swing us some tickets," Rachel said.

"Go get some shoes on, we've gotta go," Grover said looking at his watch. He always made sure they got where they needed to go on time, hell, if he wasn't going to be some eco-what's-it Percy thought he'd make the world's best tour guide, he always seemed to know where he was going. Sadly though it seemed everyone else lacked such a sense of direction and so it was always Grover leading them if they went out of state, like the year previous when they went down to Florida.

The two boys got their socks and shoes on quickly, and did the other normal hygiene regiments and emerged from Nico's room exactly three minutes later. "Let's go," Percy said and Nico grabbed his keys and locked the door behind them.

"How you two forgot about the practice walk I'll never know," Juniper said as they descended the steps.

"We're sorry," Nico laughed and she smiled at him, as much as everyone in their troupe joked around and laughed she had heard Nico the least, and just a moment ago he had sounded so jovial. "I guess we did lose track of time today."

"Persephone told you we should go outside today,"

"Don't you try to blame this on me, Percy." Nico said with a grin, the three girls and Grover had all driven in Grover's mother's Dodge Caravan, probably since they figured Percy had given Paul the Range Rover back, but Percy instead jingled the keys in front of them. "I'll drive too, I have to take this thing back to Paul eventually." He said

"I'll ride with you guys to make sure you _get_ there." Rachel said and hopped in the front seat of the black SUV.

"What? You don't trust us?" Percy asked with a laugh.

"Nico I trust, you, Percy Jackson, you're on my list." Rachel Elizabeth Dare said with a smirk. So the band six set out towards their high school, once they were all properly situated in the respective cars Rachel sat back as they pulled up to the first red light. "Annabeth seems better," She announced. "She called me this morning and asked if I wanted to go have breakfast. We talked about stupid stuff, me and Mina, graduation, college. Life stuff."

"That's good," Nico said from the back seat.

"I hoped she'd be feeling better, she called me yesterday, and we talked, and we sort of made up but she still sounded pretty upset."

"She's a strong girl," Rachel smiled. "But Dr. Chase isn't such a big fan of you anymore."

"He never really was to begin with," Percy shrugged. Dr. Chase was Annabeth's father, he hadn't really liked Percy upon their first meeting and had gradually said as little as possible to him over the next two years. "So what about you and Mina?"

Rachel shrugged. "I just wanted sex," She said. "The poor girl has never been with another girl before. I confused her and I'm trying to get her see that she doesn't love me, because she doesn't even know me."

"How did you even get her to agree in the first place?" Nico asked, astounded at Rachel's tenacity.

"I saw her at the beginning of the party, told her I thought she was pretty cool, then I let that sit for a while and halfway through the night I told her we should find a quiet room somewhere and talk." Rachel said. "She was drunk, a little I think, but so was I, not enough to really hinder my judgment, but still. She gave me this big long spiel about how she hadn't met the right guy yet, and how Selena had the _best_ boy in the whole school and how she would never find someone like Charlie and I told her that she was still a junior, she had a whole 'nother year to find a boyfriend in high school, then she got to start looking for college guys. Then I said," Rachel smiled. "That she'd probably do some experimenting in college, she asked what kind and I told her to close her eyes. She did and I kissed her, she was so surprised she nearly jumped out of her skin. Then the damndest thing happened, she licked her lips and kissed me back, and I told her what I wanted and she just nodded her head okay."

"You're amazing." Percy said. "Please, please, please write to Playboy, they will give you gold for that story. _I_ will give you gold for that story."

Rachel Elizabeth Dare chuckled. "Oh yeah, like when you and Nico drunkenly broke in the door you two weren't about to go at it like rabbits."

"I don't even remember the night," Nico sighed. "I remember Percy handing me that weird lemonade stuff, and then I had a few more bottles of it, then I was drinking shots in the kitchen, and somehow I moved on to like four beers. After that it's sort of a blur."

"You were pretty hardcore Neeks," Percy laughed. "Get this Rachel, he was begging me to do it, like, in front of people, trying to take off his clothes, my clothes, just begging." Rachel laughed and shook her head.

"Sounds like we've got an addict on our hands, though for which of the two vices I'm not sure, alcohol or sex."

"I'm never drinking again," Nico said.

"Oh yes you are," Percy laughed. "I like horny, drunk Nico. He sings karaoke, and loudly." As they reached the school Nico rolled his eyes at Percy's antics and they got out of the car when the drivers put it in park. Seeing the football field across the way a feeling finally settled in to all six of the teenagers standing there. A halting finality that said that _this_ was going to be one their last few fleeting moments together, as one. When they walked across that stage it was not only symbolizing the end of their mandatory education, but it was also symbolizing the end of an era. For seven long years they had all known one another, for Percy and Grover it was even longer than that. They had met some time ago in Elementary school, second grade if memory served correctly. Percy had glued Grover's hands together, Grover had slapped Percy in the face with his glued hands. After a struggle, and after Grover had been unglued by the teacher, they had been sent to the principal. They were fast friends after that.

For Grover he would be leaving behind his Mom in the big city all by herself, sure she had Uncle Ferdinand and his cousin Joaquin, but she wouldn't have anyone in the house since his Dad had passed away a few years ago.

For Juniper she would be leaving her parents, her sisters, their big house, and her dogs, her grandmother, Willow, and all of her memories. Rachel on the other hand, though beset about leaving, didn't mind going as much as the others. In the past few years she and her father had made up, but they had never truly come to any kind of terms.

It had happened when she was seven or eight, he'd gotten remarried and he won her in the divorce. Her Mom was apparently unfit to parent, and Rachel could not for the life of her remember why, but the woman that her Dad married already had kids, and it seemed like, for a time, he was more worried about them liking him than he was about being a father to her. So when she was ten she ran away, she'd gotten all the way to Jersey when she turned back, cold, hungry, and scared. Her father had been searching for her, yes, but not with the fever another one in his situation might have been looking for their daughter, or at least that was what Rachel thought.

When she was fourteen she told him that he was a horrible dad and that he didn't care about her, he looked at her in the strangest way, his face outwardly calm, but his eyes were so hurt that Rachel wished she could recall the words back in. But she had said them, and she had meant them. He told her that he was trying, he was trying to get everyone's lives together so they could all live peacefully, he was trying to pay her mother's medical bills, she had been schizophrenic apparently, claiming to be able to see the future around her. Rachel hadn't known, he told her that his current wife wasn't happy that he was still taking care of her mother, that they had their own things to worry about. He told her, damn it Rachel, out of everyone he thought she would understand, and thought that they had been okay. Then she hugged him, apologized, and they had never said anything about it again. Luckily he'd gotten a promotion shortly after that, a pay raise that took care of them and then some.

Lastly was Annabeth. Annabeth had grown up in a broken home to begin with, a home of geniuses, constantly arguing, constantly fighting over theories, constantly writing and publishing papers and thesis's to usurp the other's point of view. It had been as toxic as if both Dr. Chases were violent towards one another, Annabeth endured it, and one year the fighting would stop, and another it would start up again, and so on and so forth. Her mother was the smarter one of the two, maybe that was the problem. Her father, a learned and forever researching man, could not stand for someone to be smarter than he was, but her mother was also capricious, and in times when they were working together, and should have been using each other's knowledge were the times they fought and argued the most.

Annabeth didn't hear bickering about bills like other kids, she heard full blown college level discussions on the life expectancies and mating habits of the chimp, she heard them yell and scream at each other how idiotic the other was for thinking Freud could _still_ be correct in this certain area, and then how they could still think this theory or that theory was relevant. They were, Annabeth thought, silly things to argue so vehemently over, and yet she still heard hundred, maybe thousands of tiny little snips and cuts towards the other for not agreeing with a certain point of view.

Finally, Annabeth's mother had left. It had been sudden, but, now that she thought about it perhaps it hadn't. That entire week the fighting had stopped, her parents had not exchanged a word, barely even a glance. But all attention had turned to her, like she were suddenly a prize to be won. She had realized a long time ago that they had suddenly been vying for her affection because they wanted to see who she talked to more so that parent would get her in the divorce. It had been a mutual agreement that she wouldn't know about it lest the psychological experiment be compromised, but Annabeth's mother was an intimidating woman, she always had been. Her stormy gray eyes seemed to be able to read your mind and she always knew when Annabeth were being untruthful, plus she had never been the most warm toward the girl, so of course she had become a Daddy's girl. But she still wanted her mother too, and when she was gone it was as if her whole world had fallen apart.

They were all leaving something behind, a piece of heart and mind would forever lay in their homes, in their school, with their friends and family. Would it be, Nico thought, too hard to leave it all? To let everyone go? Percy grabbed his hand, and smiled at him as if he were reading his mind. Then a pang of guilt hit Nico and he grabbed Annabeth's hand and he said, "I'm sorry it had to be like this," She squeezed their fingers together.

"Me too." She said. "But if I hadn't been so petty and jealous it wouldn't have happened, not like this, I sort of pushed you two together." Then she smiled and Nico saw how truly beautiful she was, it was a rare sort of beauty, one that he had surprisingly found in three friend of his that were girls. "I'll get over it, I'll get over you, Percy. I think I already am, everyone keeps telling me the idiocies of high school relationships and how they don't last anyway." She sighed and stepped forward, between Percy and Nico. "You two were lucky, getting together after high school means it'll last." She leaned up and kissed Percy on the lips, one last time, then she kissed Nico on the cheek. "I think," She said. "our future is calling us." With that they walked to the football field.

That night, Nico took Percy up on the roof of his apartment. It was flat and meant to be able for people to climb up to, it had a view of the city that they just stood together and watched for a silent moment. The Summer stars twinkled overhead, blinking and winking to all below on the seasonably warm night. Percy turned on the mini-radio he'd brought with him and they danced. It was a slow dance of them really just moving back and forth, but to Nico it was the most wonderful dance of his life. He wrapped his arms around Percy's back, his head rested on his shoulder, and they spun slowly around, just waltzing along on the roof to the first station that came in.

Jazz poured out of the radio, a slow, somber, almost bluesy sort of jazz. Nico liked it, it was wordless, and only the saxophone and piano played, every once in a while being followed by a drumbeat or a cymbal crash, and as they danced Nico felt tears in his eyes, tears of joy. He let them fall under the moon and Percy rubbed circles in his back, they didn't stop dancing and neither spoke, tomorrow would be the end of their childhood. Tomorrow society wouldn't let them continue to be happy and carefree, tomorrow the weight of the world would slowly try to work its way onto their shoulder and they would have to either carry it or get ahead of the game. Percy kissed the top of his head and Nico looked up into his eyes, they were huge wells of untapped emotions, and there was knowledge there too, Percy was a wealth of knowledge, more than Nico and others knew or ever really admitted.

But it felt, somehow, wrong to speak. Instead they kissed, and they danced, and they held hands, and they kissed again. They danced till the battery on the little radio died and then they danced some more, the music filling their heads and their hearts now and happiness still brimmed over Nico's eyes, happiness, not tears, fell down his face in warm streaks. Percy kissed each happy droplet as it fell, and he held Nico close and suddenly they weren't dancing anymore. Suddenly they were just clinging to each other under the night sky, two little boys afraid to grow up. To grow old. To grow apart.

"I love you," Nico spoke, his voice a ghostly whisper, hoarse and cracking. Percy kissed his lips hard, again and again, speaking his emotions through other means and they fell together onto the roof top, but it stopped before it even started and again they were simply huddled together, staring out over the city. Each fluorescent light blinking like the stars above, the sounds of it were their music now, and they realized how musical New York truly was, it wafted up to them in a slow tempo, a caressing beat, a pounding symphony.

It, like all good things, came to an end. Eventually the cold sapped both their body heat and they could no longer stay warm huddled together, so they returned downstairs. Persephone and Hades were out again but Percy was not spending the night tonight, tonight Percy was going home. He walked Nico to his room and watched him change into his sleeping attire then he sat with him on the bed and again they embraced. Percy laid him down and wrapped his arms around Nico's frame and the shivering boy quieted.

It had all fallen into perspective, never before had any of their friends felt so human. So mortal. Standing on that football field it was as if they could see the linear scale that was life personified in front of their very eyes. Now they were graduating, in a little less than ten years they would be parents, in a little less than twenty they would be sending their own children to school, in thirty they would be old enough to be grandparents. It was all so chokingly linear, as if there were nothing they could do but grow up. Grow old. Wither and die.

Nico had taken it the hardest, because he had _just_ gotten his own happiness, and then to be reminded that someday soon it would all be taken away he nearly broke down. Percy had told him that he would be there, and that he would make him happy every day Nico let him, and that they would live their lives, and they would do it to the best of their ability. Because, even if one day they would die it wasn't about that, it was about the love they shared while they were alive. That had seemed to stir the group a bit, to lift the gloom that came with realizing how very short life was. One day you were a teenager, tall, strong, beautiful, invincible. The next day you weren't. The next day you were old, feeble, and weak. Dying. But, as long as you had friends such as these it was all worth it, life was worth living.

Nico fell asleep in Percy's arms and Percy waited another twenty minutes before he got up. He kissed Nico and then made his way out of the room. When he emerged into the living room Hades and Persephone were coming in, the woman smiled at him and walked past, telling him hey and that she hoped he and Nico had a productive day. He told her they did and she went on her way. But Hades, Hades stood there, looking at Percy with eyes that could analyze the very smallest of microorganisms. "What's wrong?" He asked.

"I have a couple of questions," Percy said, unsure where they had come from suddenly in his mind. Perhaps all the introspection had caused them. "Will you answer them?" Again Hades looked at him for a long second, and then he nodded. "Why don't you like me?"

"Because you're fucking my son," Hades replied coolly. "But, I tolerate you because you're fucking my son and he's happy about it."

Percy nodded. "Okay. I can understand that. But why didn't you like me before?"

"I've always thought you and Nico were together, Perseus. It was slow over the years, when he first brought you over here I saw the way he looked at you, like you were some god, and I admit that I was jealous of that. He looks at me like he's scared of me a lot of the time, but you, some snot-nosed brat he's known all of a few days are a god to him. Then I saw it for what it was, for the true infatuation he had. I thought if maybe I tried to make him date he would develop an interest in girls. But you were both so young, and not every little boy likes girls first off." Hades sighed and Percy saw that mask he wore slip, underneath that bravado was a man, and inside of that man was a father. "It was something his mother saw in him when he was still little, I think she tried to hint at it to me, she would say things like, 'I don't think Nico'll have kids, he doesn't seem like the type to give us grandchildren, better bank on Bianca.' and I thought that was strange at the time, but now I get it."

"How do you do it?" Percy asked. "How do you deal with death every day? Today, for the first time I think I acknowledged that one day it'll all be over and it almost killed me, but you work in a morgue, you're around death every minute of every day."

Hades gave one of his rare true smiles, and in that face Percy saw the man Nico would grow up to be, and Hades said, "Kid, listen. Everyone dies, as soon as we get over that little factoid life is a breeze. I live my life like I want, I do what I have to of course, but I let no man hinder my existence, no thought can break me, because I know when it's all said and done I'll still have to continue on. Those poor bastards lying on the slabs in the morgue aren't exactly as worthy of our sympathy as we make them out to be, they lived their lives, and now they're at peace. So live your life and live it how you want to. You'll make mistakes, you'll get angry, but when that's over with you still have to live."

Again Percy nodded and he said, "Thank you," Then Hades did something Percy never thought he would do, he reached out and touched the top of his head, mussing his hair.

"Take care of my son," He said, then he walked past him and in a few short strides he was gone. Percy stood in the living room, alone for a second, but then he was again surrounded by the feelings of love he had for those in his life, it returned to him like his own joy, and he smiled to himself, no longer dwelling on mortality, but instead on living. He made his way to his—Paul's—car and turned over the engine, driving home.

When he got there there was an extra car parked outside of his house, one he didn't recognize. He climbed out and walked to his door slowly, standing there was a young man, a little older than Percy, with a cigarette between his lips. The young man had startling, but familiar blue eyes, and dark, curly hair, he was a couple inches taller than Percy, and his body was slightly more agile. "Perseus, I presume," He smiled.

"Who are you?" Percy asked. "And what are you doing outside my house?"

"My name is Triton," The young man said. "I'm your half brother." Percy blinked, then he blinked again. "I'm waiting on our Dad to come out of there so we can go home." Percy pushed past the young man with the cigarette, but a hand grabbed him by the shoulder and Percy whirled around, meeting his own gaze. "I hear you're a faggot."

"Get your fucking hands off of me," Percy shrugged out of the grasp and pushed into the house, slamming the door behind him. There were hushed voiced coming from the kitchen so Percy made his way there.

"You can't just show up without any kind of warning, Poseidon." Sally was saying.

"I want to see my son, I think I can if I want to." Poseidon answered, he was standing there in the kitchen as young as the day Sally had first met him, the only real evidence of his aging was the white touching the roots of his hair and beard.

"Oh, now he's your son?" Sally asked, Paul stood beside her quietly, his arms folded and he was the first to see Percy, he shook his head and the brunet teen just stayed where he was, not exactly seen by either of his parents.

"He's been my son, Sally. You know how busy I get, I can't always make it to visit." Poseidon said. "My work keeps me away."

"But you have time to take your other kids out, Poseidon, the ones you had with Amphyrite. I saw you pull in here with Triton. How old is he? Twenty?"

"His age is of no concern to you," Poseidon said.

"How old is he?" Sally asked, near hysterical.

"He'll be twenty this August,"

"He's nineteen? Your son is nineteen! Your son Percy, did you know that?" She was screaming now and Percy wanted to walk into the kitchen, but Paul's eyes were trained on him and he just stood where he was.

"I know that." Poseidon said, punctuating each word.

"Guess what that means?" Sally shouted. "They're the same age! You were with Amphyrite even before Percy was born! What kind of man are you? No, you're not a man. A man would have been there for his family!"

Poseidon slammed his fist down on the table. "Damn it, Sally! This is why Percy thinks he can just talk to me anyway he pleases, because of you! I am his father, I will not be disrespected by my own flesh and blood!"

"Where were you for your flesh and blood's first little league match, Poseidon?" Sally asked, her voice dangerously calm. "Where you when he broke his arm at football camp? Where were you when he had a fever of a hundred and four and I thought I was going to lose him? Where were you Poseidon?"

"I was working!"

"You were out there sleeping with that college girl! You think I don't know, how could I not know? I saw you two together! You smelled like her all the time!"

"This isn't about us, Sally." Poseidon said.

"No," Percy said stepping into the kitchen, no longer able to stand back. "it's about me."

"Percy," Sally said, putting a hand against her heart. Her eyes were red with tears and Percy went over to her, hugging her closely.

"What are you doing here, Dad?" Percy asked. His father was immaculate incarnate, he always looked more like a surfer than a biologist but today his Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts were not welcome.

"I came to see you," Poseidon said.

"Why?" Percy asked. "You haven't before."

"Because you're my son," Poseidon said again exasperatedly, as if they were supposed to just get it, as if it were the easiest concept of all time. "You're graduating tomorrow, I came to congratulate you and talk to you about college."

"Is Triton in college?" Percy asked and Poseidon nodded.

"Yes, the finest—"

"Then you can keep talking to him about it, I really don't want to see you." Percy shrugged, the look that took Poseidon's painfully handsome face was not one of amusement, in fact it was pure, vehement anger.

"Perseus," He said. "you will not talk to me like that."

"I think I—" Sally touched Percy's shoulder.

"He is still your father Percy," She said quietly. "No matter what I think of him I can't help that fact, and he is entitled to talk to you, you still have to respect him." Percy closed his mouth and just nodded.

"I—" Poseidon said.

"But he is not my father," Sally continued. "he's my ex-husband, and if my son doesn't want to talk to you then I think you should leave. Don't show up tomorrow." Poseidon opened his mouth, and then closed it again, he gave Percy a hard look and moved to the door.

"I will see you soon, Perseus." He said, then he walked out of the home, closing the door behind him.

"Here are your keys, Paul." Percy said. "I'm going to bed." Sally stopped him, grabbing him by the arm.

"You're nothing like him," She said quietly. "I'm sorry I compared you, you're nothing like him. He's never sorry for his actions, he does everything rashly and never has even the slightest remorse for anyone. I should never have said—"

Percy pulled her into a hug, then he was surprised that Paul put his arms around the both of them. They stepped back, Paul holding Sally against himself. "I'm tired," Percy said.

"Goodnight," Paul replied and Percy walked to his room and fell asleep.


	13. Chapter 13

Nico stared at the red and white gown draped around his shoulders, he didn't like it, it was too big for him, too long. He was sure to trip on his way up to the stage, or with his luck well before then. He had on a pair of black slacks and his only pair of dress shoes, also black, and above he was wearing a white button down shirt and a black tie. He had attempted to style his hair the way Persephone had done a couple days ago, and while it didn't look exactly the same it at least tamed his mess of curls some. He placed the crimson cap on his head and scowled at his appearance, he had never liked it. He didn't have body issues, but he still just didn't like the way he looked, and something they don't tell you is that briefs ride up, that was something he found out the hard way, as comfortable as they were if you sat wrong they would just find their way upwards and beyond.

He sighed, resigned to his appearance by now, he had never much worked on it, finding it futile and he walked into the living room where his father and Persephone waited. Persephone, or Fee Fee Nico found his father calling her, was all made up. Her hair was rolled backwards into a strict bun, a white daisy woven into the intricate up-do and Nico thought she and Juniper would probably get along rather well. She was wearing a pants suit, manila in color and white heels. Hades on the other hand wore his normal black button down with the sleeves rolled up and his leather pants and boots. "I look like a dork." Nico said, fidgeting with his gown.

"Stop that," Persephone smiled. "you look dashing."

"I don't feel dashing," Nico sighed.

"Let's get this show moving," Hades said. "Looks like it's going to rain."

"Oh no!" Persephone said and then suddenly she was scurrying back into the small apartment, when they saw her again all of a minute had passed and she had an umbrella in hand, she flashed them a smile. "I'm ready now."

"I didn't know we had umbrellas," Nico laughed. "When did that happen."

"Don't be stupid," Hades said and gave him a hard look, but amusement danced in his eyes.

"Hey, if you two want to get soaked to the bone that's your prerogative, but where there's moisture there is a bacteria breeding ground." She informed them as they locked the door behind them. Outside Nico had to blink, sure the skies were cloudy and the wind was warm, in fact the whole atmosphere spoke of storm, but that wasn't what Nico was looking at. Walking towards them was Percy, well, but it _wasn't_ Percy. The young man coming towards him could almost pass for his twin, if he weren't just the slightest bit older, and an inch and a half taller. He smiled when he saw Nico looking and sped up slightly, now at more than a leisurely stroll.

He stopped in front of them and Hades too thought perhaps it was a relative of Percy's, maybe an identical cousin or something. "Hey, you're—er—Nico, right?" The young man asked, he didn't sound like Percy at least, his voice was deeper, different. It had a whole new sort of dialect to it, as if he weren't from New York, but Nico was unable to place his accent.

"That's me," Nico said.

"Oh good, my name's Triton," Triton stuck his hand out, his blue eyes sparkling brilliantly. Nico took it and shook it.

"You don't mind me asking, but, um, are you related to Percy Jackson?" The older teen named Triton made a sour face, and he reached into his jacket pocket pulling out a pack of cigarettes. After he had sufficiently lit one and taken a long puff on it he exhaled.

"He's my brother," Triton said. "Half brother, anyway." Nico blinked again, as if he couldn't believe his eyes. "That means you two are Mr. and Mrs. Di Angelo?" Triton asked and before either Nico's father or Persephone could answer he said, "Look, I need to talk to your son in private for a few minutes if you don't mind, I'll make it quick, I know he's graduating."

Hades looked at Nico and the boy nodded, then he took Persephone by the hand and they walked to their car. "What's going on?" Nico asked. "Is something wrong with Percy?" Triton laughed, and Nico saw that his mouth turned up the same way his boyfriend's did.

"Oh there's something very wrong with Percy," Triton said.

"What?" Nico asked, becoming upset at the way the older teen was presenting himself.

"You, you're what's wrong with him, di Angelo." Triton said coolly and Nico's anger sparked.

"What'd you say—!"

"I've heard you're pretty poor," Triton interrupted. "Destitute, as it were. I can offer you fifteen thousand dollar if you end it with my brother." Nico gasped, such was his disbelief at this kid's audacity.

"You think I would just—"

"Fifty thousand," Triton smiled. "Fifty thousand dollars for you to end a relationship that'll never work in the first place. Fifty thousand dollars to get your gay ass hands off of my brother. Don't answer right now, just think about it. You have till the end of the day."

"Forget it!" Nico yelled. "I don't know who the fuck you think you are, but coming here and announcing something like this, but I suggest you get out of here before I have to make you leave." Again Triton laughed.

"You think a fag like you—"

"HEY!" They looked and standing not ten feet away was Hades, his face nearly red with anger. "You little shit, no one talks to _my_ son like."

"I can handle it, Dad." Nico said. "Go home you homophobic fuck," Triton smirked.

"We'll be in touch, _Neeks_." Then the young man who looked like Percy, but was most decidedly not like Percy shouldered past him and skirted past Hades with a greasy smile. Nico felt sick to his stomach, had he just been offered money to break-up with Percy? Had he just been offered _fifty_ - _thousand_ dollars to break-up with him? His father came forward and took Nico by the shoulder.

"I can run him down with the car if you want me to," Hades said. "I'm a mortician; I know how to make it look like an accident." Nico shook his head.

"No, I just want to see Percy, let's go to the graduation." He replied glumly and he climbed into the backseat of his father's car, then, within moments, they were speeding off and Nico looked outside of the window. This was not what he had needed, not with the dawning realization that there would be a day he might have to go permanently without Percy, not with his mortality so fresh in his mind. He had already been feeling slightly down, but now he was feeling awful. The ride was silent all the way to the school, the two adults in the front not sure exactly what one could say in the situation. 'It's going to be alright,' Just sounded so hollow, so instead they didn't speak.

As they pulled into the school Nico still looked slightly forlorn, but then again it could have just been the way he looked when he wasn't smiling. Hades knew his own face was quite solemn, and his son was definitely due to bouts of dark moods like his father. "I'll see you from the stage," Nico said.

"We'll be in the audience, I brought my camera," Persephone said in a coddling sort of voice, trying, and failing, at sounding like a concerned mother. Instead she did sound concerned, but it didn't have the same tones a mother might speak to her child, instead she sounded like a woman who felt sympathy but who didn't truly understand the situation. She couldn't pretend to understand what he was feeling considering that half of what was happening inside of him had nothing to do with Triton's little interruption. He made his way into the school, following the other red gowned teenagers into the school, perhaps the very last time he would walk the hallowed halls. He stumbled his way into Mr. D's room, the meeting place appointed for their little group. When he waltzed in he was immediately assaulted from preemptive strike from behind and for a minute his world was spinning. "AHH!" He screamed and warm laughter met his ears. "Percy?"

"Hey, babe," Percy smiled and turned Nico around in the air, holding him close to his body.

"You almost gave me a fucking heart attack," Nico groaned.

"Di Angelo! You might not be a student here anymore but that kind of language won't be tolerated, not in my school!" Mr. D. said from behind his computer screen, he too had sons graduating, twin boys. He might have favored them a bit in school, but what that meant was that he was twice as hard on them as he was on his other students. But, he thought, they were better for it.

"Sorry Mr. D." Nico said and the man turned his attention back to last minute paper grading. "Percy," He said and kissed the boy, hugging him close.

Hey, what's wrong?" Percy asked pulling back from the kiss, Nico's voice broke slight when he'd said his name. "Nico, what's wrong?" Percy asked.

"I met your brother," Nico said rather angrily, his eyes red-rimmed.

"Triton? Yeah, he's a jerk apparently, what'd he do?"

"He offered me fifty-thousand dollars to break-up with you," Nico said. "It was just a sick joke, but God I feel so horrible."

"He—that bastard."

"Jackson!"

"Sorry, Mr. D." Percy said.

"One more time between the two of you and you're both out of here."

Then Percy turned back to Nico, "Are you serious?"

"Yeah," Nico said. "Sorry, I'll be okay. I just—it unsettled me. The kid comes out of nowhere and he looks just like you and I didn't know what to say. Why didn't you tell me you had a brother?"

"Just found out last night myself, he's two years older than me." Percy replied. "Apparently my Dad has a few kids with lots of other women, that's what Mom told me this morning. When she said he cheated on her I didn't think it was anything like that." Then Percy thought for a second and said, "What did you tell him?"

"What?" Nico asked.

"I mean, fifty-thousand dollars, I'm not worth that."

"Don't be an idiot Percy," Nico said, rolling his eyes. "I said no,"

"Good," Percy smiled and kissed him. "I'm sorry my brother's such an ass, but forget him, it's okay, alright?" The brunet Italian pushed his face into Percy's chest and the taller teen chuckled as he hugged him back, kissing the top of his head.

"Oh good," Rachel Elizabeth Dare said, a pretty blonde girl clinging to her hand. "It's everywhere."

"Hey Rach—el…Rachel. Hey." Percy had almost slipped and called the girl by her most hated of nicknames, and the glare he received had been enough for him to finish it. "Hey Mina."

"Hi, Percy!" Mina smiled, nearly bouncing. "Oh, my God, Rachel, after you graduate I'll totally be dating a college freshman! Do you think we can hang out tonight? I mean, like, alone, maybe at your house? I haven't even met your parents yet. Rachel, we should totally get manicures tomorrow, your cuticles look all grungy. Oh, my God, Rachel! Did you brush your hair today, it's, like, all over your head. Here, I've got a brush in my purse, hold on." The overly excited blonde girl pulled forth a bejeweled brush and took off Rachel's cap.

Percy was astounded at Rachel's resolve, she barely blinked an eye as Mina combed her hair. "Mina, sweetie," Rachel said in a honey doused voice. "Would you go get me a Dr. Pepper out of the machine?"

"Sure!" Mina smiled from ear to ear and after a few more brushstrokes she seemed satisfied and was bouncing away. As soon as the petite blonde was out earshot Rachel gave them the most acidic glare she could muster.

"Don't say a word," She said, venom flying from her lips.

"Do they make a lipgloss that pink, or does she have to special order it?" Percy smiled.

"Percy Jackson," Rachel said, then she sighed. "She was a virgin. How the hell did I get a virgin? I just thought she was frigid, I didn't think I was…you know, deflowering her. Now she wants to do everything together!"

"Poor girl," Nico said, understanding completely what she was going through.

"I know! I'm trying, but if she—"

"Rachel! They were out of Dr. Pepper, I got you a Pepsi," Mina bounced over to her and Rachel Elizabeth Dare, and the girl took the drink from her.

"Thanks," She smiled and Mina kissed her. "Hey, why don't you go get your seat with your parents, we'll be heading up soon." Mina smiled brilliantly and hugged Rachel again.

" _Love_ you!" She said and as soon as she'd come she was gone. Nice felt cold. Mina was a funhouse pantomime of himself, not in the bubblegum colored lipstick she wore, or the rose blush on her cheeks, but in one aspect especially. She was chasing after something that shouldn't have been, Rachel didn't want Mina, and with a cool sort of certainty he knew that Percy hadn't wanted him either. But unlike Percy Rachel was well versed in the ways of the heart and the body, she _had_ wanted Mina, in a very different way than Mina might expect. But the novelty had worn off, Rachel had gotten what she wanted and thusly was done with the girl who was spawning feeling that Nico related all too closely to. He didn't like seeing himself in the Beauregard sister, they were two vastly different people—or so he had assumed thanks to Selena—but there it was.

"You need to break-up with her," Nico said harshly, the sting from Triton's words still embedded in his heart. "Like, now."

"I know, I know," Rachel said. "But she likes me so much,"

"Rachel," Nico said. "It's turning into something I don't think even you can control, I know her type. She going to fall for you, hard." Suddenly a light came into Rachel's eyes, one that Nico knew always appeared when she was seeing through his faulty rouses.

"Me thinks," She said. "the lady doth protest too much,"

"Rachel…"

"Look, Nico. I'll break-up with her I will," She said. "But tell me how this is any different than with you and Percy."

"It isn't," Nico admitted. "But I was lucky, I got Percy to like me," Percy smiled from ear to ear.

"Yeah, well, it wasn't very hard." He commented.

"And the biggest difference is, you _know_ you don't like her, he was confused, and my friend and he didn't want to hurt me." Nico said and Rachel opened her mouth, he knew a biting retort was on its way out, one that might scar him a bit considering the knife like nature of Rachel Elizabeth's words sometimes, but instead she sighed, stopping herself pre-insult.

"I can't keep it up," She said. "This whole thing, I didn't want a girlfriend, if I did I would have had one. I just wanted something to distract me, and I preyed on an innocent little girl." The she sighed again, resigned. "The sex wasn't even that good, she was shaking the whole time, I was afraid she was going to go into cardiac arrest." Then Rachel smiled distantly. "But she was warm and soft, and she smelled like lavender."

"Did you have a pillow fight? A naked, giggly pillow fight?" Percy asked and Nico elbowed him, Rachel laughed.

"I guess you'll never know Percy, but let's just say that after a while feathers were flying." She watched him gulp down thick saliva and laughed again as Nico rolled his eyes. "Anyway, what was with the PDA when I came in? You two looked like something was seriously bothering you." Her astuteness would never cease to amaze.

"It was Percy's brother—"

"You have a brother?" Rachel asked, and before Nico could say that it was a long story a tall, lanky, mussed haired, goateed teen stepped into the room, a young woman who was a blossom of loveliness in stark contraction to his sloppy stance beside him.

"Hey Percy, did you know you had a brother?" Grover asked from the door, then they were waved over and quickly Nico told them the tale from this morning's car ride, and after that was over Percy relayed what had happened the night previous. "God, Perce, you're Dad's still a dick."

"Mr. Underwood," Mr. D. said from his desk, his teeth grinding slightly. "I've already informed your little pals about foul language, since you weren't in here I'll excuse you, but, and hear me, I hear so much as a 'dang' out of all of you and you're out of here. Banned from my classroom and my life so long as you shall live." They all loudly agreed that no such would pass through their lips again in his presence and again the conversation turned inward.

"I know," Percy said. "I mean, when we were kids I didn't think so much about it, but now I'm kind of glad he was never in my life, I might have turned out like Triton."

"Your mom would have never let that happen," Grover said with a smile.

"What are we all gathered together for so closely?" Annabeth's fine voice drifted into their ears and they turned to look at her. She, like Rachel and Juniper, was dressed to the nines. Her graduation gown was all white as opposed to their red ones as she was passing with honors, the Valedictorian of their grade, and her cap was trimmed in crimson, but it too was white. Her blonde hair was curled at the ends so that it swept her face when she walked. But, that wasn't the reason they were looking, behind her was a slim, beautiful, strict looking woman. Her eyes were the same color as Annabeth's, a stormy gray, but whereas Annabeth's eyes might have predicated a light Summer shower, this woman's spoke of gale storm winds and Typhoons across the entire eastern front. Her hair was pulled back into an impossibly tight bun, pinned down by a black clip and she wore a black business skirt, trimmed just below her knees, and a black suit jacket, which was unbuttoned at the height of her bosom, revealing soft, milky skin. On her face was a pair of rouge, rectangular glasses that complimented both her choice of lipstick and her sensible heels.

She and Annabeth clopped forward, a mother-daughter catwalk that slim to no runways had ever had the pleasure of hosting, but the dingy, purple carpeted floor of Mr. D.'s Mythology classroom did, and somewhere in France a runway cried out in jealousy and shirked the models it deemed unfit to walk it.

"Mrs.—I mean, Annabeth's mom, hi," Percy said, smiling a small smile. He had almost called her Mrs. Chase.

"Just Athena will do, Perseus," The business woman said, her hand flitting into her pocket to check something on her handheld. "I hear you and my daughter are no longer an item, pity. I found you both to be prime genetic matches for one another."

"I—uh—yeah. Sorry?" Percy asked, but from the smile on Annabeth's face nothing could faze her. Even after all these years she still held this woman in such high regard, she had missed her, and secretly prayed every night to a different deity for her return, of course she would never tell her friends of this—and never the dark gods, just the gods of safe passage, or the gods of reunions and families, or just God in general, someone would answer her, if science couldn't do it, surely an all powerful being might be able to.

"Ah, it isn't me whom you should be sorry to, nor to my Annabeth, but to the brilliant and physically attractive specimens you might have procreated," Athena shrugged. "Well, dear, I must go sit in the audience, it was nice to meet your little retinue, but I may as well go and face your father and his wife now then have to slink into the crowds and be embarrassed to find my seat taken." She kissed Annabeth lightly on the forehead. "Ta, all. Congratulations on this next step up to a higher, more fulfilling education."

The woman's beauty was not lost on Mr. D., he watched her leave and the small group was afraid he might burn holes in the spot she had last been at the door. Wouldn't it be horrible for some poor junior to walk into the classroom only to find themselves incinerated by his photon like gaze?

"Annabeth, that was your Mom?" Juniper asked. "My God, she's gorgeous."

"Yeah, now we see where you get it from, bookworm." Rachel smiled. That statement alone had Annabeth blushing through her scarcely worn make-up. "She seemed busy, you didn't even introduce us."

"Yeah, Mom's working right now, but she moved her schedule around so she could come to the graduation," Annabeth beamed, her face aglow with pride at being included in her mother's life. "I was almost as surprised as Dad when she showed up on the doorstep unannounced. I don't think Tiffany liked that at all, but her boys seemed to like my mom…" Annabeth let that sentence trail off, her undiluted joy was almost infectious. "Is your Dad coming," Almost.

"I…don't know. I kind of told him to clear off, and apparently my jackass of a brother stalked Nico earlier." Something slammed behind them.

"That's it Jackson! You and your unfit friends get out of my room!" Mr. D. shouted. " I don't want to see you in here again! Not until you've all got brats of your own!" Laughing the small group picked up their things and each individually said good-bye to Mr. D., as much as he pretended to be a hardass he really was a pushover, and if they pressed the matter they were sure he would let them stay, but they had to get to the auditorium soon to be lined up for the march.

"Bye, Coach," Grover smirked, he, unlike Percy, had been on the basketball team for a short amount. That was until he found his skills better suited to virtual basketball as opposed to the regulated form on the high school courts.

"Good-bye, Mr. Dionyonisus." Juniper said with a small smile, and Mr. D. melted little bit, Juniper had always been a favorite of his, she made high marks and did it with a much better attitude than most of his other students.

"Later, D-man," Percy laughed.

"Bye, Mr. D.," Annabeth and Nico said at the same time.

"Good-bye, sir," Rachel smiled and Mr. D. too smiled at the last three, well, Perhaps it wasn't a smile, more like a grimace, which was as close to a smile as he ever truly got. Really the only two he ever had much trouble with were Jackson and Underwood, and only when they were together, which was most of the time.

"Hey, kids," Mr. D. said from his desk, which they scarcely saw him leave. They all turned and stared. "Try not to die before your time," They all smiled beacuse coming from Mr. D. that was a heavy good-bye greeting, it meant he wanted them to stick around long enough to prosper in life.

"Oh, there you kids are," Coming from the opposite entrance of the hall was Chiron, the director of the walk. "You're the only ones not in place, go, go, go." He smiled and they briskly walked past him to the auditorium where they would be marched out to the football field and then seated, and they would wait till their names were called, and then they would be graduated, adults. "Gang," They looked back at the man who was grinning from ear to ear. "Congratulations."

Suddenly it didn't seem so bad. Growing up, they could become people like Chiron and Sally or Paul, or Hades and Persephone, or just so many different people in their lives. Growing up didn't mean the end of life, it didn't even mean the end to their childhood, it just meant there would be more responsibility, but that was something easily dealt with once you had the swing of things. Once they were in place the march began, the sky was still clouded over heavily but the air was warm and dry and if they hurried they could make it through without getting completely soaked.

Quickly they were on the football field where a thousand seats were set uniformly a hundred rows of ten. One by one, in alphabetical order, the students started piling in and when the last one was seated the principal made his way up to podium that was sat in front of them. She was a timid looking woman of middle years, her black hair full of streaks of white and her eyes a warm, molten brown. She was small, no taller than five and a half feet, and she weighed possibly one hundred and ten pounds wet, but she was quite possibly one of the most intimidating people any of the students had ever met. Her name was Circe, the students weren't sure if it were her first name or her last name, but it was what they called her. She looked at them, considering each student in front of her, she knew them all, knew their brothers and sisters who had walked through her halls, and though she looked no older than her early forties she knew a few of their parents from their times in high school as well, as their principal. Her age was unnumbered, but she stood at her full height and strong.

"Students, parents," She began after the prayer. "It is today that we release unto the world some of the most brilliant minds I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. It is today, under the eyes of our watchful Maker that I have the privilege of decreeing each and every person seat in front of me with a diploma of knowledge that forebears your thirteen years under the tutelage of the United States school system. Today, ladies and gentlemen, I turn students into our future teachers, and doctors, senators and presidents, and I am full of pride, pride that each and every one of them deserves as such, pride that, in the short time I had you, you were mine. Now, O academic scholars, I will not waste words against the black skies above who threaten us, but I instead turn this over to our Valedictorian Annabeth Chase," There was an applause as Circe stepped down from the podium microphone and Annabeth made her way up to it.

"Thank you, Principal Circe," Annabeth said. "My friends," She said looking at the scholars of America in front of her. "We have all had so many memories here, this place has been our home for the past four years, and I would like to say that I have gotten to know some of you better than others, but I count each and every one of you as a close friend. Who can forget when Connor, or was it Travis," Here everyone who knew the Stoll twins laughed, and that was well over half the students seated. "blew up the science lab? Blew it up, like almost on a nuclear level, and somehow he just got a mild concussion from it."

"Mild concussion?" Travis yelled up to the podium. "I was out for a week!" Again the crowd around them laughed and Annabeth smiled prettily.

"Be that as it may, like I said, we've made some great memories here. I know I would have never made it through the semesters without all my wonderful friends, Rachel and Juniper you know who you are, and I've been made over by Selena Beauregard so many times I feel more like an oversized Barbie doll than a class Valedictorian," The group of students smiled. "Or who can forget the time Mr. Midas took us all on a school trip and _someone_ highjacked the bus, I'm not naming names, but Clarisse, I never knew you were such a gifted driver."

"What can I say?" Clarisse asked. "I had to get home, the game was on."

"I didn't hear that," Circe said from the faculty seating. "Can't press charges if I didn't hear that."

Annabeth went on, "So I stand up here, a representative to so many great kids, like Percy and Nico, two of my best friends ever whom I will never forget, and who need to stay with me a few days in California," She said. "And I see staring back at me our future, I've got to say guys, it's a bit blinding 'cause you're all so fabulously bright. So here's to our last year having to put up with soy substituted hamburgers and meat-by-products! Thank you, class of 2010, for making this my best year so far, and I wish each and every one of you a happy and productive future." She stepped back and the entire audience was up in a flurry of applause and whistles and Annabeth humbly took her seat.

Minutes later, when the rowdy crowd was finally settled down Circe took the stage again. "Wow." She said. "That girl has a way with words; she expressed how I feel about you all in such a beautiful summation," She looked to her right where Chiron nodded at her and she said, "But now for the moment we've all been waiting on, Mr. Chiron if you please."

Chiron, microphone in hand, called off the names of each student in a booming voice. When the last name was called he said to them, "Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you, your class of 2010!" One thousand hats flew into the air that moment and there were even more camera clicks from the audience. They had done it, they were graduated.


	14. Chapter 14

Nico and Percy stood together for their millionth picture, this time Percy was able to sneak in a kiss before his mother and Persephone (the two women had decidedly liked each other at first glance) snapped their cameras. Hades and Paul stood off to the side, one with pride showing only in his eyes, the rest of his face as solemn as if this were a funeral procession, and the other exuberantly smiling from ear to ear. Hades was about two heads taller than Paul, but then again Hades seemed to dwarf everyone else around him, but he liked the small, bookish man more than he thought he would have.

"Cigar?" Paul asked, holding up the long, expensive cigarillo.

"Don't mind if I do," Hades smirked and took the offered smokeable, Paul cut it for him and then held up a lighter, the dark man inhaled deeply, the sweet, smoky flavor washed into his mouth and out of his nostrils almost instantaneously and he sighed relief as grey clouds puffed from his nose.

"Come on, now one with everybody!" Sally said, motioning for all six teenagers to get together for a picture, and as a group photo it was only their fifty-thousandth.

"Oh dear, I don't know you but you're lovely," Persephone said to Juniper. "Scoot in next to the tall, what was your name dear, Grover? Yes," She pushed them together. "Hades, baby, come take a picture with the kids, Paul you too!"

"And leave those toxic things over there." Sally called behind her. Paul and Hades slunk over to the group; their freshly lit cigars snuffed out and stuck in jacket pockets. Paul stood behind Percy and Grover and Hades stood beside Nico and Annabeth, the two shortest in the group at the front. "Great, now one, two, th—Grover, honey, don't stick your tongue out, Percy, pull your finger out of your nose." Sally rolled her eyes. "Let's try again. One, two—Paul, really? Bunny ears? I didn't hear your name called for the graduation today. Okay, one, two, three, say cheese." She snapped the picture of all their smiling faces and thought it came out rather well.

"Alright, now one with the moms," Paul smiled, Annabeth perked up.

"Hold on!" She said and she was racing across the field to where her mother was quietly talking to her father. "Hey, Mom, come take a picture with us," Athena opened her mouth as if she were going to say no, and then she received a pointed look from her ex-husband.

"Sure, sweetie," She said with a smile and she let the excited girl lead her away. When she and Annabeth made it back to the photo op session the recent graduates had captured the cameras somehow and now their parents were the ones being assaulted with pictures.

"Oh, hi, Athena," Sally smiled and shook the woman's hands just as Percy took a shot. "Perseus! Camera!" Sally laughed and her son handed her the device. "Alright, everyone, back together." With a groaning protest the group gathered again and she handed Paul the camera. Again the graduates stood together, and Annabeth noticed a small, dark haired woman standing beside Grover. She was of Hispanic origin, her skin a tawny golden brown and her hair beautiful tresses of curls, she was of indeterminable age, she could have been thirty or she could have been one hundred, but she had a timid sort of beauty to her.

"Mrs. Underwood," She smiled.

"It's Gutierrez, dear. Underwood was Grover's father's last name," Ms. Gutierrez said. "And you can just call me Julia," Her smile brightened up the darkening atmosphere as the storm around them drew in closer. Then there was Juniper's mother, a dark haired woman of striking beauty, she was as quiet as Juniper, and seemed to just sit in the background with her arm around her daughter. The woman was like a vase of flowers, pretty, but just there.

"Okay, everyone smile," Paul said, and after quite a bit more picture taking, the graduates going around and finding other friends to pull into quick photos, they finally made their way back into the school to retrieve their real diplomas, the papers handed out as they marched only being representations of them. Nico found himself in line behind the people whose last names started with 'D' and he laughed because the 'di' in his name meant 'of' it wasn't actually the first letter of his last name. But English dictated that it was such, and that's where he had to be.

The smile slipped off of his face as he saw Percy slip out of the room, following behind his near mirror image, Triton. He was about to step away to see what was going on but the tired looking woman handing out the real diplomas said, "Next. Name please?" In a nasally voice that sounded eerily like Fran Dresher. "Name, please?" She asked again.

"D—Di Angelo," Nico said, tearing his eyes away from the doorway. She rifled through a few of the papers in front of her and again Nico's mind drifted away.

Percy on the other hand was following behind Triton with the promise that he would be able to get a few well needed words in edgewise. Triton smiled in front of him as they made their way outside, and into the parking lot. Standing there next to a beautiful crème colored Lincoln town car was Poseidon, and even though it was nearly pitch black outside he was wearing a pair of dark tinted sunglasses, and an even darker pin-striped suit. In the car there were two other boys, both of them younger than Percy, but both of them had the same dark hair, he could see that from where he stood. "Perseus," Poseidon smiled as he came closer, then Triton punched Percy hard on the arm and walked to the car, leaning against it. "Easy now, Tony," He said with his greasy smile now directed at Triton.

"Dad—"

"So you do know who I am, good, for a while there I thought you'd forgotten." The smile melted off of Poseidon's face and he sighed, taking off his dark sunglasses and his sea-green eyes stared back at Percy. "I know you hate me." Triton chuckled and Poseidon shot him a glare at which the boy quieted.

"You do?" Percy asked. "I think you're just saying that, Dad. You're really very good at making other people believe stuff, it's like a gift."

"One you inherited from me," Poseidon said. "You'll find that you come from a line of great liars Perseus, and even greater truth tellers, so when I tell you that I wanted to talk to you, you have to believe me." The tall man sighed, he was a man to rival Hades' height, and he had a much more built frame than that gaunt man. "Your mother kept you away from me, Percy; she didn't want you around me."

"Even if she did I can understand why," Percy glared acidicly. "And then the way _he_ treated Nico this morning, I'm glad you didn't raise me, if I had turned out like Triton I might hate myself." Poseidon's hand wrapped around his taller son's shoulder before the boy was off of the car.

" _Easy_ ," The older man said. "Percy," Poseidon gave a placating smile. "I just think you're being gay so suddenly is strange, you never showed any signs of it before."

"Dad, I'm—"

"I'm just saying it is a documented find in some fish that there are—"

"Dad I'm not a fish," Percy continued to glare. "And I'm not gay."

"You're not…" Poseidon considered that. "So you were just testing the waters with that di Angelo kid, well, I mean as long as we've gotten that out of the way—"

"No, I really like Nico, but I'm not just attracted to guys, I still like women. I don't know why that's so hard for you to understand." Percy sighed. "It sounds easy when I say it out loud, so I thought maybe you'd get it, but inside it's still pretty unclear, the fact is: whoever I'm with you need to like, regardless of if they're a guy or a girl." Percy said. "You're my Dad, or at least you're supposed to be. Why don't you try acting like that, you're out here blaming my Mom for not ever coming to visit, and you're just trying to bullshit me into falling into you suddenly worming your way back into my life."

"Watch your mouth, faggot." Triton glared.

"Enough, out of both you." Poseidon said, and he sighed heavily. "Alright, Percy, bullshit aside you're right. Look, when you were born I didn't want to be a father, hell, when Triton was born I didn't want to be a father either, and then I did something stupid and married your mother after I left his, then you were born and I ran back to her." He smiled sardonically here and shook his long curly hair. "I'm a lot of things Percy, but I've always been more comfortable around the sea and all the fish in the ocean than I have around my own family."

"You're not doing such a great job of making amends." Percy said.

"I'm not trying to make amends, Percy. You're never going to truly forgive me for the absence in your life, and I'll never be able to be the Dad you want, the one who shows you how to catch or makes it to your first game every season, sure, I work a lot, but I have a lot of free time too, and unlike you Triton and my other boys understand that I need time away, you need too much of me, and I can't give you that."

Percy smiled. "My Mom taught me how to play catch," Percy said. "And the stuff she didn't know we went out and found people who did, I can't say I needed you, but she did, and you're right, I probably won't ever forgive you, and I don't think I'll ever like Triton," He continued to smile as he looked at Triton, the boy sneering at him. "But that's just because he's a dick, not because he's my brother."

"I could apologize for that too," Poseidon shrugged. "I've never made a big show of caring much for gays."

"I get the feeling you kind of hate them," Percy said and Poseidon chuckled.

"Hate is a strong word," He said. "I can tolerate them."

"Not well enough, you tried to pay Nico off to break-up with me."

"It would have been for the best," Poseidon said. "You say you still like girls, son, and you're too young to be so committed to one person. You should never fall in love with your first piece of ass," It had been close to a closing moment for them, and whereas Percy hadn't forgiven Poseidon he had almost given the old man a hug because true he was an old fucker but he was his father as well, and he had almost said that even if they didn't see eye to eye they could still try to get to know one another.

"Don't talk about Nico like that," He said hatefully. "Like he's just something I'm after till I'm tired of sleeping with him. He loves me."

"Well, that just means you're good at what you do," Poseidon said with a small smile. "Something else you got from your old man, the women we sleep with do tend to fall in love, I guess the same might be true for the men." Triton gave a large grin and a small chuckle.

"And what if I loved him too?" Percy asked, immediately the mood turned sour and Poseidon gave him a hard stare.

"You love him, Percy?" His Dad asked. "You're seventeen; you don't know what love is, or what it feels like."

"Stop me if I'm wrong," Percy said. "But neither do you, jumping from one woman to the next as soon as she's having your baby, running out to the middle of the ocean when your kids need you, when your family needs you, tell me something Triton, you're two years older than me, how often do you see him?" Triton glared at Percy but he didn't answer. "How often do you see him, Triton?"

"That's none of your damn business," Triton glared.

"Answer him, boy." Poseidon growled.

"I'm off to school most of the time," Triton said. "But he's home when I come back on break most of the time,"

"Alright," Percy said. "Should I ask the kids in the car?"

"Percy—" Poseidon said.

"Do they even have the same moms?"

"You've made your point, son. But still, you're too young to know what love is."

"Is it when you wake up in the morning thinking you've got the most beautiful person in the world beside you, or, maybe, when you're sitting there by yourself and every thought in your head is taken up by that person, when I'm standing there with Nico and I've got my arms around him and everything in the world feels right even with a Dad who's never around?" Percy asked. "Is that what love feels like Dad?" Poseidon was quiet, and even Triton's grin had fallen off. "Look, you're right, you're my father, I can never change that. I won't cut you out of my life but I don't want to talk to you or any of your kids until you at least pretend to understand that this is my life, and I'll live it how I want to. If I decide maybe I want to date one guy in my life, and I fall for him then you should support me." He turned around as if to walk away and then turned back to Triton. "Oh, and a big fuck you to you, don't ever talk to my boyfriend again." He walked away, shaking. Never had he ever spoken to his father like that, and it didn't feel good. There was no closure there, in being angry, but he felt better for it. Quickly he made his way back into the school, passing by Rachel and Mina who were talking very quietly at the door, Rachel didn't even look up when he passed and Percy felt a pang of guilt for the blonde girl she was most likely breaking up with. When he found Nico, who was talking with Grover, Juniper and Annabeth outside of Dionysus' room he took no time, in pulling Nico into a kiss, surprising the young Italian teen who was soon laughing into their locked lips.

"Percy!" He chuckled but Percy pressed his lips fervently harder and Nico couldn't help the small moan that passed between his lips.

"I love you." Percy said and at that same moment he realized Annabeth was standing right beside Nico, but he couldn't take back what he had just said. The girl made no outward movement, but her eyes tightened slightly and Percy knew he had hurt her again. But Nico threw his arms around Percy's neck and nearly leapt into his arms.

"You said it!" He celebrated by kissing Percy again and the older brunet pulled back. "I love you too!"

"Don't ever let anyone ever tell you otherwise, Nico. If you see my brother again, punch that fucker in the face." The younger teen's eyes widened, as did their friends. Percy never talked like that unless he was either extremely drunk or extremely angry, or, on rare occasions, both.

"Percy…" Nico said.

"Come on, let's go out to eat," Percy sighed, closing his eyes.

"You guys should wait on Rachel," Annabeth said. "Mom is going to take me out," She smiled then and began divvying out hugs, first to Grover, then to Juniper, Nico, and finally Percy. "I love you," She said looking him in the eyes. "All of you," She continued with a glance over her shoulder. Percy hugged her again.

"Don't talk like we're never going to see you again," He said. "We're going to be in California so much you get tired of us."

"I can only hope," Then Athena and Dr. Chase came into the building and she stepped back from him, placing a hand on his cheek and then she began to walk away.

"Annabeth," Percy said, grabbing her by the wrist, she turned around. "you're such a wonderful, brilliant, spectacular person, try not to make those Californian boys feel inadequate." She smiled widely, tears coming slowly to her eyes. "Just remember you were my first love, okay? So when I act stupid and do things you and Nico both hate, 'cause I know I will, you guys'll remember I'm just a dumb guy, okay?"

"You're far from dumb, Percy," Annabeth said, still smiling. "But I'm sure Nico'll be able to handle it, me? Well you're not my problem anymore." Then she winked and turned quickly, something strange happened next, Athena smiled. She smiled a very real, gorgeous sort of grin at the sign of her daughter and when she did her face came alive, it was as if the teens were seeing her for the first time and they all had to take a breath of air. Athena hugged Annabeth closely and the girl held herself together, but inside they all knew she was crying tears of joy.

When the Chases were gone Nico said, "What did you and Triton talk about? I was worried about you." Percy just smiled and kissed the top of Nico's head.

"We came to an understanding," He said.

"An understanding?"

"Yeah, an understanding that I love you and that my Dad needs to get over it." The smaller brunet hugged him again and Percy was nearly crushed from his strength, he knew Nico was a lot stronger than he let on but that made the taller of them laugh. Suddenly he felt better, as if the whole incident hadn't happened with his father. He smiled and said, "You're going to start coming to the gym with me and Grover,"

"Wait." Nico pushed away from Percy, an angry scowl set to his face that the older brunet always thought was more of a pout. "You just said you loved me, and now you're calling me fat?"

"Bad move, Perce," Grover said, barely suppressing a laugh.

"What? No! I mean you've got some good arm strength, I think you'd like working out." Nico rolled his eyes and a grin took over his face.

"Would you shower with me in the locker room?"

"They try to keep that sort of thing to a minimum, Neeks," Grover said matter-of-factly. "And by "they" I mean you two and by "keep to a minimum" I mean make sure it doesn't happen 'cause I'd really prefer that you weren't making the beasts with two backs while I was in the shower right beside you."

"Then we won't shower next to Grover," Percy laughed.

"Ugh. That was the worst experience of my life," Rachel Elizabeth Dare said as she stopped right behind them. "She won't stop crying, I kept apologizing, eventually she said she was okay, but that she had never felt this way about someone before." She sighed. "That girl is nothing like her sister. I told her that I was just her first, and that she was a beautiful girl and she was going to find someone truly spectacular and all that jazz. Then she kissed me again and told me I wasn't just her first time being with anyone like _that_ but that I was her first love too."

"Eerie," Nico said. "Something really similar to that just happened over here," Rachel fixed him with a look.

"Well, whatever, now I'm starving, when did break-ups get to be such hungry work?" Percy smiled and clapped her on the shoulder.

"That's the same thing I wanted to know," He laughed.

"Let's go," Grover said. "Before my stomach starts trying to eat itself." Together they all made their way to their cars, parents had already been informed that they would be back in later than normal, though the only one who really had a curfew was Juniper, she was allowed to be out to eleven tonight, which was fine because Nico was in the mood to get home, and not to sleep. With his lack of boyfriend last night and this morning he found himself craving Percy, he tried not to think about it too much because if he did it would lead him to the thought that if he couldn't go a day without sex there was something wrong, because he always thought something was wrong when there wasn't, in fact, anything wrong at all. Like when he thought they were having _too_ much sex, which wasn't the case he had just been feeling a lot of hormones thanks to the personal connection he and Percy had shared beyond words, and maybe now he was doing the same because he couldn't get his damn thoughts to stop. Stop. Percy's butt looked cute, Nico thought, and for a moment he could imagine it without the jeans clinging so sinfully to it. No, stop. Oh, God, Percy was looking at him like he was crazy. God, what kind of face was he making? It must have been hilarious because Percy was smiling at him now. Okay, stop thinking. Stop—.

"Nico," Percy laughed. "Stop thinking so hard, babe." Nico blushed.

"I'm sorry," He said.

"What were you thinking about man? You looked like you were about to explode," Grover said with a chuckle.

"You don't want to know," Nico admitted. "Let's just go eat."

"Must've been Percy," Rachel, Juniper, and Grover all said at one time and Nico's face reddened again.

"Shut up, all of you." He growled and then ducked into Percy's car, he had hardly even noticed they had made it to the parking lot, let alone the fact that they were next to the vehicles. He slammed the door just as the laughter began. Percy ducked into the driver's seat and flashed him a smile.

"You were thinking about me." He smiled.

"I never said that," Nico huffed.

"You were staring at my butt," Percy laughed.

"It's my butt, I'm allowed to stare at it."

"Ooh, territorial," Percy smiled, "Now you're pouting,"

"I am not pouting!" The younger teen crossed his arms and sat further down in the seat, his lower lip sticking out slightly. Percy reached across the car and gripped Nico's hand.

"You're right, it's your butt, you can look whenever you want, hell cope a feel, now poke your bottom lip back in or I'll suck on it." Nico was nearly pink and he refused to look over the dash at his boyfriend. "Hey," Nico still refused to look. "Hey," Percy said again and grabbed Nico's chin, making the boy turn to see his profile while he stared at the road ahead. "I love you." His eyes flitted over for a moment and then back to the drive.

"I love you too," Nico flushed.

"Well, don't keep me in suspense, what were you thinking about?"

"What do you think I was thinking about Percy?" Nico deadpanned. "I was having a hard time not jumping you in the hallway."

"My ego thanks you," Percy smiled. "I guess that means we're spending the night at your house tonight then?"

Nico sighed, "I wish you wouldn't have said that."

"Why?"

"Because I won't be able to think about anything else the whole time we're eating with our friends," Nico sighed again. "Damn you, you did this to me."

"You enjoy it." Percy laughed and he moved his hand over into Nico's lap. "Maybe we can make a stop?"

"In the car, Percy? Come on, really?" Nico asked disbelievingly.

"The backseat is big enough," The older teen smiled widely.

"We're going to smell like sex,"

"That wasn't a no,"

Nico had to stop himself but then he still spoke without thinking, "I...we won't be too long, right? I don't want them to get suspicious." Here Percy laughed again.

"You don't want our friends to know we're having sex? You're a bit late on that one, Grover and I will probably high five later as I tell him how you can't keep your hands off of me."

"Percy Jackson don't you dare!" Nico exclaimed, scowling.

"What? You don't tell Grover and Rachel everything?" Percy asked, chancing a look over at Nico.

"No—never!"

"Oh, well, damn. I guess I should stop doing it then." Nico slapped Percy's arm. "What? Rachel asks about it, Grover I just like to freak out."

"I cannot believe you Percy!" Nico said, trying not to laugh, he didn't know whether to be embarrassed, upset, or amused.

"These are our good friends Nico! We don't keep secrets from these people!" The driver said with a chuckle, then he groped Nico. "Come on, I was just kidding anyway, we'll pull over here," Signaling he turned off onto a dark and deserted street, where he drove for a little while longer until he found an empty lot to park in. "You're bad about getting me in the mood, you know that?"

"You asked what I was thinking about," Nico said, his heart beginning to hammer in his chest. "Should we really do this in your car?"

"Nico, if you think the car is the weirdest place we're ever going to do it then you're adorable." Percy smirked. "I have many plans for us in the future. Outside kind of plans. Plans where we might get caught." Nico blushed and Percy smiled deviously. "Come on, it'll be fun to be adventurous." Turning off the car he reached over and kissed the slim Italian boy. "Think I'm kidding, open the dash." Nico did and to his surprise it was full of prophylactics, when the older teen saw the surprise cross his face he chuckled again. "We were starting to run low, I went out and bought my own."

"Ribbed?" Nico asked, holding up the pack of condoms. "What does that even mean? It sounds painful."

"Grab that lube and get in the back, you'll find out." The shorter teen grabbed the small bottle of lubrication and read it as the front of it looked rather interesting.

"Warming gel? Oh, God, Percy—"

"Don't say that, I haven't even touched you yet." Then he crushed their lips together and smirked into the kiss. "Backseat, now." Quickly Nico nodded and unbuckled his seatbelt, moving into the back, laughing at his obedience Percy put the e-brake on and followed Nico, pushing him into the seat and straddling the boy's legs.

"I—maybe this wasn't such a good idea," Nico said.

"It was your idea," Percy said with a grin. "Besides, you're always second guessing yourself, if we stop now I can guarantee we'll be doing it in the restaurant bathroom." Nico opened his mouth to vehemently say that they would do no such thing when Percy kissed him again. "You can't be this hard and think it'll just go away." He said grabbing him through his dress pants, and when Nico didn't volunteer any argument Percy smiled. "Like I thought, now, off with the clothes, chop, chop."

"Say please."

"Please." The taller brunet laughed and Nico came out of his shirt, throwing it into the way back, then did the same with his pants. "Yeah," Percy said trailing his fingers along the raised hem of the boy's underwear. "This was a good idea."

"You say that every time." Nico smiled.

"And I will until it stops being a good idea," Percy replied, an idea passed through his mind. "Stay right there." Then his torso was in the front of the car while he was still partially on top of the smaller teen. He returned from the front with a camera.

"What—! Percy, no!"

"I just want a reminder," Percy smiled, leaning back on the boy. "For me?"

"Percy, no!" Nico laughed. "What if someone sees them?"

"It's digital, Nico. I'll develop them myself on my computer I'm not going to take 'em to freaking Wal-Mart, or something." Percy laughed. "Just a few?" Nico didn't say anything and that let Percy know he had won. "Great, think of it as a graduation gift," He said with a grin. "Smile for me," The flash wasn't nearly as bright as Nico thought it was going to be, and soon Percy's hand was on his chest as another picture was taken.

"You promise no one's going to see these?" Nico asked as he was turned around and pushed against the door.

"Nobody but me," Percy smiled and he leaned in and kissed the boy on the lips. "Arch your back. Like that, God you're sexy Nico." The younger teen felt his underwear being pulled down, and Percy's lips were on his shoulder, he nipped at the flesh there and Nico was pulled against his chest as his shorts were pulled the rest of the way down, there was another flash in front of his face and Nico couldn't help the blush on his cheeks. Alright, yes, he craved Percy, but he had somehow forgotten in the twelve hours he had gone without him that the boy was near obsessed with this sort of thing. He found the older teen's fingers to be probing and a thin sheen of sweat began to gather on his forehead, he was fogging up the glass and he was leaving a print of his face, body and hands behind. When those fingers hit his prostate he melted into a fit of moans and the camera's flash became just another one of the lights exploding behind his eyes.

He felt Percy's lips on his and Nico clawed at the shirt still clinging to his boyfriend's shoulders. "Off," he said commandingly. "Take it off,"

"Yes sir," Percy smiled, handing him the camera, and as he pulled off his shirt where Nico took the initiative to snap a few of his own shots.

"Pants too, we better hurry or they'll start calling us." They kissed and Nico took another picture. Percy nodded.

"You think it's okay to just go for it then?" He asked, pressing himself against Nico's entrance.

"Yeah, do it." The older teen nodded and pulled on the condom, coating himself in the lubrication. "Take a breath," He said and then slowly he connected them as one.

When they were through they quickly pulled their clothes from the way back and dressed, barely able to keep their hands off of each other, gnashing kisses were subsequent for every article of clothing that was pulled on. Percy's phone rang.

"Shit." He said and made his way to the front of the car. "Shit," He cursed again. "It's Rachel."

"Here, I'll answer it." Nico came to the front of the vehicle and Percy handed him the phone. "Hey, Rach?"

"Don't you 'Hey, Rach' me, where are you guys?" Rachel asked.

"We ran out of gas, we're being towed to the station right now." Nico lied, and he did so convincingly, Percy looked surprised by the ease with which it came to the young man.

"Yeah? Well, what do you want from here and we'll order it for you."

"Just get me some chicken tenders," Nico replied. "Percy?"

"Cheeseburger and some fries," Percy smiled. "And maybe a side of you to go,"

"Percy wants a cheeseburger and fries," Nico said, trying to hide a grin as Percy kissed his neck. "we're on the way now, he's paying the guy."

"Okay, you guys be careful."

"We will, we'll see you in a few minutes," Then he hung up.

"I'm impressed," Percy said.

"Don't be, I hate lying." Nico replied. "But if I told her what we were really doing she would have killed us."

"Rachel's not a cockblock, she would have understood," Percy smiled, "my gym bag's in the back, if you don't want to smell like sweat and sex then I suggest you put on some of that cologne in there." Nico nodded and reached into the back as Percy rolled the windows down, letting the car air out. He turned the engine over and pulled out of the lot, Percy chuckled.

"What?" Nico asked.

"I was just wondering what you would do if you had to go longer than a night without me," Nico glared at him. "I'm just saying."

"I'd rather not find out," Nico replied.

"Yeah," Percy laughed. "Me neither."


	15. Chapter 15

Annabeth loved California. She _loved_ it, and not from a academic standpoint. There were beaches everywhere, and it was always sunny, in her first few days out she had gotten a nice brown tan and her roommate had convinced her to buy a bikini, though she was nearly scandalized with how small it was on her, she wrapped a long skirt around her hips so she could walk down the beach without feeling so exposed but in truth she liked the attention that it warranted. She had always been brainy, and when her curves finally came in she was dating Percy Jackson so she had been seen as sort of one of the guys, but not here. Here she was the new girl on the block, here she was that New Yorker with the beautiful stormy eyes.

So on her third week in when she and her roommate Piper were going to the beach together she had been surprised when they were stopped by two young men. Two gorgeous, hunky young men. "Hey," The blond one of the two introduced himself. "My names Luke," He smiled and he had a wicked grin, one that Annabeth couldn't help but blushing at.

"I'm Annabeth," She smiled.

"Theseus," The brunet young man smiled at Piper. Piper was a pretty girl, she reminded Annabeth of Rachel Elizabeth Dare in her appearance because of her brilliant red hair, but no one could ever be like Rachel in personality. She was slimmer than Annabeth and had barely any hip or bust to her, but she had a nice lean body to help fill out her swimsuit. Piper was a quiet girl at times, she showed a great liking for music and she seemed to love being outside, she was social and Annabeth hadn't seen her during school time but she was sure the girl was smart. "My friends call me Jèsús though,"

"Why Jèsús?" Piper asked.

"Because it's a lot more common than Theseus," The young man smiled. "And because I'm Guatemalan, people just expect it you? But when I start to talk no one ever believes me 'cause I don't sound Latino,"

Luke laughed, "Yeah, Thebes is weird like that. Are you girls going to the beach?"

"What was your first clue? The swimsuits or the sunblock?" Piper asked with a raised eyebrow, she was a lot saucier than Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

"What my friend means to say is, yes, we're on our way there now," Annabeth laughed, amused by Piper's attitude as always. She was quiet, but she couldn't stand when someone asked rhetorical questions.

"Cool, we were going up that way too, maybe we can walk you?" Luke asked and Annabeth smiled.

"Maybe you can, but I don't know if your girlfriend would like that?" She said, an eyebrow raised.

"Maybe if I had one," The blond young man chuckled. "Who knows, that might change soon." Then the four of them continued on towards the beach, the smell of the surf washed over them soon and the girls laughed as their new acquaintances began to splash each other with water. The young men smiled at each other and then quickly turned around and heavily splashed the young ladies behind them. Annabeth and Piper weren't ones to sit there and be attacked, instead they returned fire and after a few minutes they made their way further down the beach till they came to a nice patch of sand and a blanket was set down. "What brings you over here, New York?" Luke asked with his handsome grin.

"Annabeth," The girl corrected.

"I like your accent," Luke shrugged as if it should have just been known and Annabeth blushed slightly.

"Architecture," Annabeth smiled.

"Cool, I'm studying to be an engineer, maybe I'll see you around the campus?" There were two things that were distracting Annabeth at the moment, Luke's gorgeous blue eyes and his sun-tanned, shirtless body. So when all she could do was nod he smiled at her. "Maybe I'll see you before then?"

"What were you thinking?"

"I don't know, do you liked iced coffee?" Annabeth laughed and finally her wits came back to her, she was smart, she was funny, she could wrap this guy around her finger if she wanted to. Obviously he was interested with the way he was ignoring his friend, then, she realized, she was ignoring Piper.

"How about lunch instead? Coffee isn't really a first date type thing, coffee is something you do when you've been together for a while and don't have time to have lunch."

"You do this kind of thing often?" Luke asked, his golden brown eyebrow raised slightly.

"Eating at restaurants? Well I do like to get out of the house every now and again," Annabeth smiled wittily and Luke blushed.

"No, I meant like going out on dates with guys you met fifteen minutes ago."

"Depends on the guy," Annabeth smirked. "But if you don't think I should, tell me now, you're not like some serial rapist or something are you?"

"No, no. I'm just Luke," Luke smiled.

"Good," Annabeth said. "Because I could kick your ass if need be," That made the suntanned blond boy across from her laugh, though she was only half joking, Rachel had shown her a few self-defense techniques and she wasn't going to be one of those damsels that needed rescuing.

"So when and where can I pick you up?" Luke asked, leaning forward slightly and Annabeth wasn't sure if it was his skin or the sun but suddenly she felt like she was burning up.

"See those apartment buildings over there?" Annabeth motioned behind her about a block away. "I live in one of them, I'm not going to tell you which 'cause you might still be some creepy stalker-rapist, but tomorrow. Noon, I'll meet you outside." The young man smiled.

"Can I at least have your number so I can call?" He asked.

"Better yet, give me yours. If you're running late I'll have a way to get in touch with you,"

"You're sure you don't do this a lot? You know how to put a guy through the ringer," He laughed and Annabeth smiled.

"A girl's gotta look out for herself,"

* * *

On the other side of the states Percy and Nico were having their first "fight" which wasn't really more than a small argument. "What part of "strip club" did you think I would say yes to?" Nico asked. "You're not even old enough to get into one of those places!"

"Look, Conner's uncle is in town, he wants to take us all out, he's cool, he's only like twenty-five, you can come to!" Percy said, holding onto Nico's hands firmly.

"Yes, that's what I want to watch, scantily clad women gyrating around," Nico huffed. "No, Percy, that's not cool."

"Come on, Neeks, if this were like the other way around I'd totally let you go."

"If this were the other way around I'd be coming to you for the show!" The younger teen huffed and sat back against the wall. They were in Percy's room. "You're going to be around all those women, and that's going to give you ideas, then you're going to leave me for one of those sluts on the pole!" Percy laughed and kissed his boyfriend.

"It's a graduation gift, Nico, really," Percy continued.

"No, a graduation gift is a car!" Nico said, for his graduation present he had gotten a Golf Sport, it was a nice little car to drive around in, but he still preferred to be driven so he had not taken it out a lot yet.

"Don't you trust me?"

"It's not you I'm worried about!" Nico shouted. "Remember? Sluts? Poles? Slutty McSlutterson on the pole dancing around to some freaky Madonna song? The answer is no, n-o." Percy rolled his eyes and pulled Nico close to him, but the boy crossed his arms and looked the other way, he knew if he caught Percy's gaze then he would give in.

"Nico…" Percy said in a singsong voice, he grabbed his boyfriend's chin. "Ni-co," He smiled when the boy's eyes darted over to him. "Neeks," Then he kissed the side of Nico's mouth and the shorter teen tried to duck away.

"Percy…I swear if you go there and end up getting an STD—"

"I'm not going to sleep with one of the strippers!" Percy laughed. "Is that a yes?" Grudgingly Nico nodded. "Who do I love?"

"…me." The Italian teen said quietly, his eyes averted.

"I can't hear you," Percy smiled, pushing Nico back on his bed. "Who do I love?"

"Me," Nico said with a grin, then he pulled Percy down on top of him. "If you're going to a strip club then I want the same treatment,"

Shrugging Percy said, "Go, I'll call Aaron to take you to one,"

"No, no," Nico said, his grin turning malicious. "I want you…to strip…for me." He punctuated his sentence with kisses. Percy smiled widely and with one final kiss he pushed off the bed and went over to his radio. Ironically "I'm Too Sexy" was on and that made the taller brunet teen laugh. Then he hopped forward, gyrating his hips to the song. Nico laughed. Mouthing the words he began to take off his shirt and the younger teen ran his hands down Percy's stomach, stepping back he started to unbuckle his pants. "Slower," Nico smirked. "And be sexier," He stuck his tongue out and Percy chuckled.

"Can do," Slowly but surely he pulled his belt out of the loops, then he unzipped his pants. "So sexy that it hurts," Percy laughed and stopped, dropping his pants. Nico laughed, clapping his hands together as the taller boy came forward. "Your turn," He smirked and ran his hands underneath Nico's shirt. "You're awesome," Percy smiled.

"For letting you go to a strip club?"

"For being my boyfriend," Percy replied, and they made love and Nico was so happy that it was as special and as meaningful as it had been the first time. "I wonder if Paul knows what he's doing giving us a private dorm?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, if it's just a dorm for us I'm pretty sure clothes'll be forbidden," He smiled.

"You can't forbid clothing Percy,"

"Too late. Forbidden! I forbid them! Forbade!" They laughed together and the vibration of it reminded them how close they were and again they made love, through kisses and moans they professed love for one another and Nico couldn't believe his luck, somehow it had changed for the better and he wasn't sure he deserved it, but never, _never_ , would he jeopardize what he had. He fell asleep in Percy's arms after he was beyond the point of exhaustion, what Nico loved best about Summer was that he could go to bed as late as he wanted to and sleep in all day and no one said anything about it. When he woke up from his doze he was happy to see Perseus still laying there beside him, slowly he disentangled himself from the napping younger man and grabbed his night bag with two pairs of extra clothing in it and made his way to the bathroom with a towel around his waist.

"Nico, dear," Sally said, raising an eyebrow as he came out of the door, then she smiled. "I didn't know you were here." She and Paul had been out on a date and must have come in some time during his catnap.

"Uh, yeah, Percy came and picked me up earlier we were supposed to go to Rachel's to swim…I guess we lost track of time." Nico said, blushing profusely.

"Looks like it," Sally observed. "Are you hungry? I brought Percy a doggy bag from the restaurant but he probably wouldn't care if you ate it."

Nico smiled, "I'm okay, I was going to take a shower and call Rachel, see if we could reschedule,"

"Not that it would do you much good, you'll just end up "losing track of time" again," Sally laughed. "Well if you decide you're hungry the food's in there, I think I'm going to sleep before I have to leave out tomorrow."

"You're leaving?" Nico asked.

"There's a fashion show in Italy I have to get to," Sally smiled. "I can bring you a few things back if you want to? There are so many nice clothes, Percy hates them."

I—uh, I mean if you want to." Nico said, shrugging his shoulders, then blushing as he almost lost his towel. Quickly he wrapped it around his waist again and Sally laughed.

"I'll bring you some nice Armani, everyone likes Armani," She smiled patting his shoulder as she continued past. "Maybe some Gucci, it's making a comeback." Nico watched her go and shook his head. Sally and Percy just knew all the things to say to make him stammer, blush, and go slack jawed, it must have been a gift because with everyone else he could just sort of shrug his shoulders and hold up an impenetrable mask of apathy. Chuckling to himself he continued on into the bathroom.

Not even five minutes into having stepped under the water the curtains were pulled back. "You didn't wake me," Percy said.

"Showering," Nico laughed washing the shampoo out of his hair.

"However will we save the world by conserving water if we take separate showers, Nico?" Percy asked stepping under the water, he was still quite nude. Wrapping his arms around the younger boy he pushed him against the wall.

"Do you just wake up horny? Is that it?" Nico chuckled as his boyfriend ran his hands down his thighs. "You're horrible Percy, it's not conserving any water if it takes twice as long for us to get out."

"But think of all the time we save washing sheets," Percy smiled.

"This is just a shower," Nico said.

"I was thinking maybe you could do that thing you didn't finish," Was the reply in his ear. "You remember? With your mouth? You're not hung over today." Nico felt himself blush, but thanks to the hot water all of his skin was relatively still the same color. "Same rules apply, you do me and I'll do you."

"Perseus—" There was suddenly a very probing finger at his entrance.

"Get you nice and clean,"

"You're an animal," Nico moaned, to which his boyfriend replied with a growl. There was a knock at the door.

"Don't use up all the hot water! Paul and I still have to take a shower!" Sally voice called in. "You hear me, Percy?"

"How the hell did she know I was in here?" Percy laughed. "Yes, ma'am!" He yelled over the stream of water and Nico couldn't help but smile, his hands went around Percy's waist. "So yeah, you want to try that thing?"

"Sure," Nico smirked, then gingerly he pushed his own finger into Percy's rectum, the young man nearly jumped from the intrusion. "How do you like it?"

"This is no time for role reversal," Percy glared.

"Oh, so I never get a chance to be on top?" When the wet brunet in front of him blushed at the concept Nico chuckled.

"I didn't know you wanted to be…I-I mean if you really want." Percy blushed.

"I don't," Nico smiled leaning up and kissing his lips. "I just wanted to see if you'd let me," Then with an evil grin he sunk to his knees. After letting the water run, and then properly showering they stepped out of the tub. Nico was shaking his head. "I can't believe you followed me into the bath for more sex,"

"I can't believe you put your finger in my ass," Percy replied.

"You've put bigger things in mine," Was the retort. "You liked it."

"Just cause it was your finger," Percy smiled and kissed Nico. "Little warning next time, it kind of hurt, I have a new found respect for you."

"As you rightly should, you think I was born with the amazing ability to have sex with you like four or five times a day?"

"Six, if you're lucky." Percy smiled.

"There's food in the kitchen, go turn your attention towards that, I'm going to play some Halo and maybe get rehydrated." Nico huffed drying himself off with his towel. "I didn't sweat this much in gym."

"That's because you didn't _do_ anything in gym."

"I ran track for a little while," Nico corrected, Percy nodded and suddenly his eyes were distant with memory.

"Do you still have those track shorts?"

"Percy! Dry off, go eat!" Nico laughed and handed his boyfriend the towel seeing as he hadn't brought his own. "My God man, when we live together in the dorm you're not getting nearly as much sex." The taller brunet looked hurt.

"You wouldn't punish yourself like that just to teach me a lesson would you?" He asked.

"Yes, I would," Nico smiled.

"If this no clothing decree I have so ordered is put into effect I bet you'll change your mind," Then he was leaning down and kissing Nico but before anything could get started the younger teen pushed him away.

"Kitchen," He said.

"I like the way you think,"

"Percy!"

"Okay, okay. Geez, I'll get your chastity belt fitted tomorrow." Nico punched him in the arm. "Ow! Damn Nico, are you sure you don't work out?"

"I'm sure," Nico said and crossed his arms.

"You can't be mad at me when you're naked, it sends mixed signals." Percy dried his hair. "Your mouth and your eyes say your upset, but…" Blushing and rolling his eyes he grabbed the towel out of Percy's hand and wrapped it around the older teen's waste, then very forcefully he pushed him out into the hallway. Percy stared at the door for a few second and then laughed.

"Trouble in paradise?" Paul asked passing by with his keys in his hands.

"Nico thinks I'm too…enthusiastic," Percy replied. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Hades called, he's got a poker game going on. Gonna have a few beers, some wings, a few smokes," Paul opened his jacket pocket and inside were his prized Nicaraguan cigars. "Don't tell your mother I have these."

"Your secrets safe with me," Percy laughed, Paul nodded.

"You're a good kid, Perce," He said walking away. "Give Nico a break every now and then, you'll find out that in a few months time he won't be so enthusiastic."

"Wait," Percy followed after his stepfather. "What do you mean?"

"Eh…other things come up, especially with school, I expect you to study and not just play around." Paul said. "I put in a good word for you kids, I know you'll make me proud, but I don't want you too distracted."

"Well, yeah, of course, we'll study, but what did you mean about Nico being not so enthusiastic?" Percy asked and Paul laughed at the look of concern on his stepson's face.

"Nothing, Percy, you're young you don't have to worry about anything like that right now."

"Like what?"

Sighing Paul said something in Ancient Latin as he was accustomed to doing when looking for the right words, "I'm just saying enjoy every moment you have together, they don't all have to be of a sexual nature," He looked at his watch. "I'd better get going, don't think too much on it Percy, over thinking is a bad thing." Then he went to the door. "See you later tonight,"

"Yeah, bye," Percy watched him close the door and he turned around when Nico came out of the bathroom.

"What's wrong with you, you look like someone took your favorite toy," The younger teen said fully dressed. "And you still haven't put any clothes on, we haven't just gotten to the dorm just yet, Perce," He walked over and planted a kiss on Percy's lips. "Go get dressed,"

"Paul just said something that really worries me," Percy said suddenly and he blinked slowly.

"What?" Nico asked. "Are we not going to school after all? Did something fall through?"

"No, something worse," Percy replied and he looked down at Nico. "He said that you might not always want to have sex with me." The slim Italian boy laughed, he laughed so hard tears came to his eyes and Percy looked at him with uncomprehending eyes. "That's not true is it?"

"Percy," Nico said, not able to control his laughing. "You know those times when I'm not in the mood?" The older teen nodded. "That's what he meant,"

"Oh. He also said we're going to be busy a lot in school, do you think we should like work out a schedule? Like a 'do-it' schedule? Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday work for you?"

"My God, we are not going to work out a schedule to have sex, Percy." Nico said, still chuckling. "If and when it happens it should be spontaneous like it always has been." Percy nodded and he said he understood, then he grabbed Nico's hands.

"Just promise me one thing," He said. "You have to promise,"

"Alright, what and I'll promise?" Nico replied.

"If we go longer than a week you'll take time to do what you just did in the bathtub for me." Again the smaller brunet laughed.

"I swear I'm going to take you to like the AA of sex, what would that be? The SA? Hi, I'm Percy Jackson and I'm a sex-addict."

"Nico…promise."

Rolling his eyes the younger man said, "Fine, if we go a week and your pent-up teenaged hormones are about to burst I'll put aside my higher learning and do whatever it is you want. But we have to cool it down now, we can't keep missing hanging out with our friends just to, you know?" Percy nodded. "And if I have a lot of homework to do it'll only be one time."

"One time?" Percy asked, frightened by that concept.

"Twice if you're lucky," Nico smiled. "Now, go get dressed before your Mom comes into the hallway." Nodding Percy turned and ducked into his room and Nico sighed. He had created a monster, and damn it all if that monster wasn't some glorious boy he had been in love with since they met. Shaking his still wet hair he went into the living room where they had hooked up Percy's Xbox 360 and he put in the newest Halo, Reach, he hadn't gotten very far in it yet but he loved it so far.

Percy came out of his room on the phone, "Oh yeah man we don't care, hold on, I'll ask Nico." That caused the aforementioned to look up. "Hey, babe, you don't care if Grover comes over to spend the night?"

"'Course not, tell him to bring Mountain Dew," Percy smiled.

"I knew there was a reason I loved you," He said and something said on the other end caught his attention. "Not you Grover, no I don't think my relationship with Nico has made me lose sight of the fact that you were my first love," Percy laughed and Nico rolled his eyes, straight boys wondered why bi and gay guys hit on them. It was this homoerotic behavior known as being 'bros' it was ruining both communities, what the hell did bromance even mean for that matter? A bro romance? That had gay written all over it, how anyone could go around telling their bros they loved each other and not start having some sort of deeper meaning left Nico completely stumped. "Yeah, see you in a minute man," The conversation finished.

"I won't comment," Nico said pulling on his headset and his boyfriend chuckled.

"Did I make you jealous?"

"Jealous? Of Grover? God, Percy, you're both too stubborn to let the other one put anything in anywhere, I don't think it would work out between you." Nico laughed and Percy nodded.

"You might be right there," Suddenly Sally was walking out of the bathroom, apparently she had somehow snuck in their without either of them knowing and taken a quick shower. She ducked into her room.

"Your Mom seems rushed,"

"She is, when she goes on these fashion trips she always leaves as fast as she can so she can get back as fast as she can. I went on one, boring. All they do is, like, look at clothes and say which ones are 'in' and which ones are 'out' while these really pretty models walk down the run way."

"I'm surprised Paul isn't going with her," Nico said.

"Why would he? He only goes if she has a job over in England so he can go visit his old friends, but they try to tell me about their date nights when Mom's not working over there and I sort of tune them out." Percy laughed

"You know we haven't gone on a second date,"

"That's true," he older teen sat down on the couch with Nico and laid his head in the boy's lap. "When do you want to go on one?"

"Not tonight, obviously, Grover's coming over." Was the reply as Nico stroked Percy's hair. "Maybe after your Mom get's back, she's bringing me some stuff."

"Ugh. All she ever brings back are these, like, really stuffy tuxes and button down shirts," Percy rolled his eyes.

"You mean things that make you look like a respectable and well established member of society?" Nico asked.

"Well, when you say it like that..." They laughed, then Percy's stomach growled. "You said Mom brought me some food?"

"In the fridge," Leaning up he pushed his lips out and Nico rolled his eyes, then he leaned forward and kissed Percy.

"Thanks," Quickly he was up and in the kitchen and the younger brunet was shaking his head as he got past the menu screen and selected campaign mode.

"Nico, sweetie, how do I look? And give me an honest opinion." He looked up and standing there was a woman who couldn't have been older than her late twenties or her early thirties. "Is is too much? I want to look good for the Barcelona Premier," She was stunning with her hair falling in small, loose curls all around her head and the very faintest of make-ups on her face, a light rosy pink on her lips that complimented her white form fitting dress and matching heels. Around her shoulders was a bright red shawl that clasped in the front and she looked more like a model than a fashionista. "I look silly don't I?"

"If you weren't married I'd propose," Nico smile. "Sally you look…gorgeous." He said and she smiled, her face brighten up completely and Nico could see why both Paul and Poseidon had fallen in love with her, she was radiant.

"Really? I have to take it all off and do it again because I cannot sit like this on a seventeen hour long flight, but I just wanted an opinion." She looked unsure. "Are—really? I look okay?"

"I wish I would've taken you to prom instead of Percy," Nico laughed.

"I heard that!" Percy shouted back into the living room and Sally smiled. "Just for that I'm not sharing this lasagna!"

"Don't mind him, he wouldn't have shared anyway, Italian is…his favorite…" Then she stopped herself. "Well, I guess that doesn't just stop at food choices…" Nico laughed.

"What can I say? Percy's _valere la pena_ ," He smiled when she made a face at him. "You're going to Italy but you don't speak Italian?"

"I'll have a translator," Sally replied. "I didn't know you spoke it."

"Enough to get around, my Mom taught me." He smiled. "It means's he's worth the trouble,"

Sally laughed, "Maybe I should take you with me," She smiled. "But I don't think Percy could go a few days without you here, especially with just him and Paul, there'd be hell raised every night." Then her eyes became half lidded and her smile became more a grin. "But I guess he's va- _valere la pena_ too. Did I say that right?"

"Pretty good, you just have to work on your pronunciation and I think you'd do good at learning," Nico smiled, and he saw Sally blush for the first time ever.

"I have to go take all this goop off, my flights in an hour and a half, I'll make it with just enough time to spare, thanks Nico,"

"No problem," He smiled and she ducked back into her room. Percy poked his head out of the kitchen and he looked like the cat who ate the canary, he just stared at Nico with a huge smile on his face. After a couple seconds Nico said, "What? That's creepy."

Through a mouthful of lasagna he replied, "Sometimes, when you're like in the zone and you think I can't hear you you're moaning in Italian," Percy said and he took another bite of his food. "It's pretty hot."

" _Chiudere il becco_ ," Nico glared and turned back to his game.

"That sounded dirty," Percy smiled.

" _Fannullone_ ," Nico continued.

"Why do I get the feeling you're cussing me out?" The dining teen laughed.

"Believe it or not I'm not," Nico smiled. "But it doesn't make it less true,"

"What did you say?" Percy asked coming back into the living room and finding his seat with his head in Nico's lap again.

"The first time I just said shut up," Nico smiled. "The second time I called you a bum," Percy looked disappointed.

"I was hoping you were sexy," Nico laughed.

"What happened to cooling it down?" He asked.

"Oh yeah, sorry," Percy smiled. "I forgot," There was a knock at the door and then the knob twisted and in came Grover with an overnight duffle bag in one hand and a bag of Mountain Dew and snacks in the other.

"Knock, knock," He said closing the door with his foot.

"Hey G-Man," Percy smiled. "Nico's trying to seduce me with Italian,"

"Sexy," Grover said. "is it working?"

"Grover…" Nico said and the tall, lanky teen laughed.

"I'm sorry, Neeks, I understand what Percy's going through," He came and sat on the recliner picking up an Xbox controller. "When Juniper first let me get to home plate I tried to make sure we never left her room," He laughed. "She put a limit on how much we do it, thanks to my efforts."

"A limit you say…?" Nico asked.

"Wait-to-go Grover, you're giving him ideas," Percy glared, and the night of staying up too late and playing video games commenced.


	16. Chapter 16

As the Summer came and went Percy and his friends had mounted a trip to California, properly embarrassed Annabeth in front of her "not-exactly" boyfriend, Luke, spent two weeks on the beach, and made it back to New York without much preamble, now that they were home Nico found that his own house was a chaos of people running in and out, back and forth day in and day out so he had opted to stay at Percy's till the whole wedding deal was over. That didn't mean he wasn't still running around all over town, he had to come to this fitting, or this cake tasting, or even to help pick out thank you cards. He was happy that Persephone was trying to include him in everything but it was getting exhausting. Luckily for Nico the wedding was only a few days away and it seemed that his father's nerves were nearly frazzled, Persephone had gone to her mother's in Hoboken for a few days and his Dad was getting what some might call cold feet.

"This isn't a mistake, right?" He asked his son uncharacteristically.

"You love her, Dad, remember?" Nico reminded him.

"Yeah, you're right, I do," Hades was pacing, his normally cool and stoic demeanor reduced to that of a bachelor-in-waiting, and if his son was correct there was even the slightest sheen of sweat on his brow.

"Dad." Nico said.

"Uh-huh?" Was the reply, but still he wasn't paying attention.

"Dad," Hades stopped and looked at Nico. "You're going to wear a hole in the carpet. Look at you, you're emoting. I think that's more than enough to say this is the right thing to do. If Persephone can make you _feel_ things then she's the woman for you." He laughed at his father's dark expression and then the older di Angelo man sighed. "I'm just saying,"

Hades collapsed on the couch beside his son in a heap of sighs and looked at him, for a moment it was difficult to tell who was the adult and who was the teenager. "I'm pushing forty, Nicky," Hades said. "I mean, I never thought I'd be getting remarried at my age."

"More like forty-two, Dad," Nico smiled. "And people a lot older than you do it all the time,"

"Why the hell did I raise such a smart kid?" His father asked. "I blame your mother; she was the genius between us." Suddenly his face softened at the memory of his deceased wife passed between father and son then he blinked. "Anyway, shouldn't you be running off to Jackson's? I hardly see you around here anymore."

"I thought you didn't like Percy coming around?" Nico asked.

"Percy, no, but I didn't think I was losing my son by scaring the living bejesus out of him though," Hades smiled. "I'll admit he's not so abhorrently horrible as I make him out to be, but don't tell him that. I don't need the kid thinking I _approve_ of you two." Nico smiled.

"You don't approve? Does that make us like, star-crossed lovers? Is our love taboo, father?"

"Do me a favor," Hades said standing up. "Don't refer to him as your lover…can we call him your teammate? Teammate is a good term."

"Anything to help you cope, Pop." Nico laughed. "I'll be heading back that way soon, I just came to make sure you weren't one, wearing a hole in the floor and two, eating properly with Persephone gone."

"I took care of myself before I had any women around, Nico," Hades replied.

"Yeah, but that was like a million years ago," Nico smiled and ducked a slow punch. "I'm kidding, you're still young Dad."

"Damn right," Hades said and turned. "Nah, I don't want to be young, young people are stupid," He threw a dark smile over his shoulder and Nico laughed. "Get out of here before I decide I like having you around too much and make you stay."

"Yes sir!" Nico saluted and grabbed his replenished bag of supplies. "I'll see you in two day's time for the practice ceremony, try not to skip town or anything,"

"God, Nico, you sound older than me. 'Skip town' who says that anymore?" Smiling he shrugged.

"Bye, Dad,"

"Later, boy." Then closing the door behind him Nico made his way to his car and climbed in, it still had that new car smell to it and he loved it. So what if Percy had made fun of it for being like a clown car, it got him from point A to point B without any problems and that was all that mattered. He was happy to find out that the roads weren't particularly crowded today as he had gotten out and back before the midday traffic and soon he was outside of the Jackson's house. He enjoyed staying over so much, and Sally and Paul didn't seem to mind the extra company, they welcomed him with open arms. He opened the car door and went inside with Percy's key the boy had given him so he wouldn't have to knock.

Once inside he wasn't surprised to find Percy and Grover asleep on the floor of Percy's room, Nico had decided that when Grover came over he and Percy would not share a bed as to make things less awkward for the taller teen, but Perseus refused to let him sleep in the guest room, and Grover always slept on the floor when he came so that's just how it ended up. The boys were going to that God awful strip club tonight now that Conner and Travis' uncle was finally in town and it disgusted Nico to think of what they were going to see. What did Percy need to see at a strip club that Nico couldn't do for him? Well, besides breasts. Percy still liked breasts and that wasn't going to change, Nico couldn't be upset with him for looking, but it was hard not to be. Clearing his throat loudly he was happy to see Percy's eyes twitch and open halfway. "Good morning, sleeping beauty," Nico smiled.

"Is this Heaven?" Percy asked staring up at him with a roguish grin and sleep in his eyes. "Or Hell? If it's Hell that means I can do stuff with you, Angel." Nico rolled his eyes as Percy sat up. "What time is it?"

"Eleven forty-five," Nico said and Percy fell back upon his pallet sighing.

"Ugh. Wake me up at five," He said.

"What? No good morning kiss?" Nico smiled and Percy cracked an eye open.

"My morning breath might knock you unconscious."

"It's what kept me so unreceptive," Grover grumbled a few feet over. "Close your mouth Percy it smells like something died in there. When's the last time you brushed your teeth?"

"Yesterday, I think? Was it yesterday?"

"Ew," Nico laughed and threw his bag on the bed. "You guys want any breakfast or anything?"

"Grover," Percy said with a yawn. "Get out, I'm taking him up on that 'or anything' offer."

"There's a guest room, go do it in there," Grover complained. "I don't wanna move." Then as if to prove a point he pulled his comforter over his head.

"Oh well, I warned you," Percy smiled.

"Not in your wildest dreams, dog breath." Nico said. "Go brush your teeth."

"Yes, Mom." Percy hopped up and Nico just stared at him for a moment. His disheveled hair, his sleep filled eyes, that crooked, chapped lip grin with the dried spit clinging to the side of his mouth. God he was gorgeous and he was all Nico's. Chuckling at his own joke he nearly jumped when Percy's arms were circling around him.

"Just one little kiss," Percy said smiling from ear to ear.

"Ew! No halitosis!" Nico nearly screamed, giggling as Percy pecked his face with dry kisses. "Oh, God, I'm being tortured."

"Well could you die a little more quietly?" Grover asked from the floor, Nico kicked him in the back. "Ow!"

"That's for not helping me," He said decidedly, the young man sat up and blinked his big, sleepy eyes around, then he stood.

"I need to piss," He announced.

"Everyone wanted to know that," Nico rolled his eyes and Grover smiled.

"I think it's everyone's business, I'm a pretty important guy you know?" Shaking his head Nico sent the two of them out of the room and they both went into bathroom.

"No crossing streams!" Nico called after them.

"Ghostbuster's references are best left in the eighties, Nico," Grover replied from the open door, they had no decency. Shaking his head again Nico laughed and sat down at Percy's desktop, he jiggled the mouse and it came on. Quickly opening the Mozilla web-browser he checked his Yahoo!Mail and his other social networking sites, he only had those accounts because his friends insisted he needed them, and as he didn't have the internet at home he found himself checking them more and more often when he had some down time from Percy's still near constant advances. During their trip to California the poor older teen had been very shocked to find out that Nico would not have any kind of relations with him in Annabeth's apartment and Nico laughed when Percy offered to get them a hotel room, the answer had been a resounding no, as much as Nico did love to join in those activities with his boyfriend (and he loved it immensely, even being the one to initiate more intimate forms of it when he went too long without Percy's touch) he just couldn't do that, not in Annabeth's house.

Closing out of the browser Nico very seriously thought about deleting the folder that was Percy's porn collection just sitting there brazenly on the screen marked "porn don't open mom" audaciously. It wasn't so much that he thought it was a bad thing because when faced with the truth just about every young man in the world with internet access had seen something akin to pornography, even if he lied and said he hadn't (and most that said they hadn't were liars) but still. It was one thing to look at it, it was another entirely to just not care that he had a folder sitting there for all to see. Percy had nearly no shame.

"What're you doing, babe?" The hot, minty breath in his ear made him jump. "There's some good stuff in there." Percy laughed when he saw the mouse cursor hovering over that particular folder. "Open it."

"What—no! I was…I mean…no!" Percy rolled his eyes and laughed, then he grabbed the hand Nico had on the mouse and double-clicked the folder. Immediately Nico was met by large busted women and his face took on a dark red quality from embarrassment. "Percy, I—"

"Scroll down, cry baby," Looking over at him Nico saw Percy grinning. Sighing resignedly he did as he was bid and scrolled down then his face went from red to near purple at what he saw.

"You have to take these off of here! Now!" He shouted looking at some very scandalous images of himself in the backseat of Percy's car. "Percy your Mom uses this computer! Paul uses it when his laptop is dead! Oh my God, we have to delete these."

"Whoa! Nico, there's a guest present," Grover said from the door and Nico looked over at him as the tall, lanky teen covered his eyes. "That's more of you than I ever wanted to see."

"Percy!" The young man smiled and closed the folder out. "That doesn't delete them!"

"I'm not deleting those, those are valuable keepsakes," Percy laughed. "And if you delete them I have a back-up."

"Oh. My. God. There's seriously something wrong with you. There's something wrong with me for letting you take pictures of me!" Nico's jaw trembled and then he groaned. "What if Sally's already seen these? I don't think I could face her."

"You're very bendy did you do, like, gymnastics when you were a kid?" Grover commented and Nico didn't know what shade he turned then, but it wasn't his natural color.

"No," He said in a whisper.

"Oh calm down, I'm the only one who's seen them. When I leave my room I lock the folder." Percy smiled. "I still have the ones you took of me if you want them?" Nico's eyes darted over to Grover who only shrugged.

"Take 'em, Neeks, I won't think any less of you." The lanky teen laughed.

"I'll think about it," Nico sighed. "God, you're a bad influence. The drinking. The porn. The next thing I know we'll be robbing a bank."

"Cause that's how bank robbers start, drinking and looking at porn, then one day they just decide on a life of hard crime," Percy laughed.

"I wouldn't be surprised," Nico said. "Grover I'm so sorry you had to see that,"

"S'all good, it wasn't permanently burned into my memory thankfully. That wasn't nearly as bad as some of the stuff we've seen online, in fact it was pretty mild." Nico gave him an incredulous look. "You really don't want to know."

"Are all guys like this and I just didn't get the memo?" He asked.

"Most likely, I only get it 'cause I'm subscribed to the magazine "How To Freak Out Your Boyfriend Monthly." Percy laughed. "It's a real page turner."

Before Nico could retort Grover said, "You still on for making breakfast?" Sighing Nico nodded his head then he stood up but was grabbed about the waist.

"Lead and we shall follow," Percy smiled, and with one tall brunet attached to him, and a taller, lankier one following after they were quite the little procession to the kitchen. Nico opened the fridge and pulled out eggs, and bacon, then he opened the freezer adjoining it and grabbed some friable sausage. Setting to work he began to cook while Percy and Grover made small talk, scrambling enough eggs to tide over a small army, or three hungry teenaged boys, and frying the bacon and sausage in the same pan. Lastly he popped four pieces of bread into the toaster and when they popped up golden and brown he set to putting portions on plates and handing them out. First to Percy then to Grover then he turned around and put two pieces of bread in for himself. "You're amazing,"

"I agree," Grover said taking a bit of the eggs. "And I don't even have to keep you happy, unlike Percy,"

"This is true," Nico said. "Thank you." Then his toast popped up and he made his own plate, he sat at the table with them and dug in. "I thought you two were going to sleep in all day."

"That was the plan," Percy said through a mouth of bacon. "But someone made me brush my teeth."

"Your dentist'll thank me." Nico smiled.

"God, anyone he talks to from five feet away will thank you, Nico," Grover laughed.

"It was not that bad!" Percy said and the two across from him exchanged glances, Percy rolled his eyes. "Whatever. See if I ever kiss you in the morning again," Glumly he took a bite of eggs.

"That's no skin off my back, man," Grover smiled. "You can't really threaten me with your kiss of death."

"Kiss of breath, Grover," Nico corrected and again they were laughing at Percy's expense.

"Hey! I have incriminating evidence against the both of you and I have the social networking power to blackmail you if need be!" He said and all three of them began to laugh.

"Morning boys," Paul said from the door, he was in his house shoes and his robe, his pajamas looking wrinkled and worn. "Coffee," He droned and turned the pot on.

"Morning Paul," Came the chorus from the table.

"What's on the post for today, O Young Men, our country's future?" He asked looking sleepily over his glasses.

"Don't know yet, the Summer's starting to wind down. I guess we can go to Rachel's again for a while till you two go and do whatever it is you're doing tonight," Nico said and Percy saw that he wasn't very thrilled of the idea of their later plans.

"Oh to be young and without a daily agenda," Paul smiled. "Good times, well whatever you do I trust you'll be safe."

"Of course," Percy smiled. "Aren't we always?"

"I might have just woken up, Perseus, but it isn't _that_ early in the morning." Paul deadpanned then the coffeemaker dinged and he set to pouring himself a cup of java, Nico never knew how he could drink it black, without any sugar or milk or creamer or anything at all.

"Hey, Paul when does Sally get back?" Nico asked wondering when the matriarch of their family would return. She had been in Italy for a full three weeks and every now and again she would call, or even get on Skype and send them video messages, but still it was strange not having her around.

"She'll be home soon, I was actually going to pick her up from the airport later on today, you wanna come?"

"Sure, I'm not hanging out with these losers all day," Nico smiled.

"Hey!" Grover and Percy laughed.

"Alright good, I'm leaving at about eight," Paul said and poured himself another cup of coffee. "I'll be in the shower if anyone needs me." Then sipping his morning brew and reading a newspaper that had been folded under his arm the man turned and walked off to the bathroom.

* * *

"You're sure that's what you want to do, Dad?" Triton MacArthur asked, currently they were on the North Carolina coast staring out over the green waters of the sea. Poseidon smiled handsomely at his oldest.

"It's for his own good, Tony," Poseidon said. "Of course, if it doesn't work we'll have to take drastic measures," Then he leaned forward. Never in all forty-five of his years had he been so disrespected by one of his own children. Percy needed to learn a lesson, but first, Poseidon had a plan to put a stop to his son's…indulgence in that muss-haired little nuisance of a boy.

Triton shrugged, "I don't know why you're making such a big deal about this kid, it's not like he cares about us."

"He cares, Tony, if he didn't he wouldn't be so angry at me." Poseidon sighed as a woman brought him a drink, he smiled at her. "Thanks, sweetheart," The girl blushed and made her way back to the stand selling assortments of foods and drinks on the beachside. "There you go, son." He said watching her walk away.

"I'll take that task on as soon as I make those calls," Triton smiled.

"Oh you can call later," Poseidon said. "Go get her number," He sipped his Jack Daniel's and sighed. "I'd kick myself if I knew you missed an opportunity like that," Triton jumped up and followed behind the serving girl, and Poseidon smiled widely when he saw his son strike up a conversation with the pretty girl and he closed his eyes, letting the sensation of the warm sun and the feeling of the alcohol going down his throats intermingle and tingle in him.

* * *

"Promise you won't have too much fun," Nico said.

"Without you there there's no way I could have too much fun," Percy kissed him. "Come on, it's not that bad. You can still come with."

"No, I guess I can go home after your Dad and I pick up Sally," The older teen smiled. "What?"

"You called Paul my Dad," He said with a chuckle. "Thanks,"

"I wasn't thinking about it," Nico shrugged. "He's definitely the kind of guy you'd want for a Dad though." Percy nodded. "Now you didn't promise me."

"Cross my heart, hope to die," He laughed and kissed him again.

"No, you stay alive. If you mess up I'll be the one to kill you," Grover knocked on the door, and it had to be Grover because Paul wouldn't be pounding out a drumbeat against the wood.

"Are you guys decent yet? I can't believe you started going at it the second I got in the shower." Nico and Percy started laughing and the younger teen pulled on a pair of jeans while Percy found a pair of boxers he hadn't worn in a while. Nico opened the door. "Open a window," Grover waved his hand in front of his face and he went over to Percy's desk, behind his desk was a window that was covered by a large, black sheet. Moving it aside he opened the protesting portal that had not been used in quite a while.

"Well, I had to keep Percy thinking about what he was leaving behind to go watch those skanks," Nico said dispassionately, and Percy hugged him from behind pressing his chest to the younger boy's back.

"And I'll be thinking about you," Percy said and then added, "Considering you didn't let me finish,"

"You're being punished," Nico replied.

"Blue balls is a horrible punishment, man," Grover laughed at the look of discomfort on Percy's face. He felt bad for his best friend, Juniper had put their sex life on hiatus before, but he was pretty sure girls could go a lot longer without it than guys could so he didn't see the little pause lasting long, Grover shook his head still chuckling because it probably wouldn't last the day. He watched for a moment as Percy and Nico bit and kissed each other, he and his girlfriend were still pretty touchy-feely even after two years of being together and they had been as bad as his two friends, then he cleared his throat, done watching their display. "We should get going sometime soon; we have to meet them at the Stoll's."

"I'm still not happy about this," Nico said and Percy pushed him against the wall, Grover blinked as unbelieving as Nico was surprised. The look of confusion on both their faces had Percy grinning widely.

"I'll give you a gift of your own later then," Percy said and bit down on Nico's neck, Nico's eyes popped open and he moaned loudly. "You didn't finish either." The brunet laughed when the smaller boy bit his lip and his eyes hit the floor.

"Shut up," Nico blushed, his gaze drifting to Grover and he looked apologetic, the taller, lanky teen just shrugged.

"I told you you were punishing yourself too," Percy smiled widely. "Stay here tonight, I'll wake you up when I get back in."

"I spoil you," Nico said.

"I'll spoil you one day, Neeks, with whatever you want."

"You are what I want, Percy." Nico conceded and Percy stared at him hard. "I love you, Percy, you might get tired of me saying that, but I love you."

"I love you too," Percy smiled. "Say it as many times as you want to and I'll always say it back." They kissed. "I've got to go," Nico nodded glumly. "Cheer up, baby." Again Nico nodded, and Percy laughed. "What did I tell you about poking out your bottom lip?" Then before the boy had the chance to right himself Percy had the thing between his teeth and sucked on it gently, Nico gave him a weighty gaze and his eyes clouded over. Again Grover cleared his throat.

"I'll leave you," He said.

"Sorry, man," Percy replied with a smile and pulled himself away from Nico. "I love you."

"Love you too," Nico said and then he walked Grover and Percy to the door and he watched them go, Percy smiled over his shoulder the entire way to the car and Nico couldn't help but smile when he blew him a kiss. He shook his head and closed the door, there was a couple minutes left before Paul would be ready to go to the airport, Sally's flight came in at about eight-twenty and he knew that after flying for a day she would be incredibly tired. He went in search of his boyfriend's stepfather and found him in the kitchen with his back turned to Nico, he was on the phone.

"I've missed you," He whispered into the phone and he laughed at the response. "Yeah? You're going to show me how much you missed me too when you get here?" Again Paul laughed and he nearly growled into the phone, "I'm sure you can stay up a little while longer, I'll massage your shoulders for you and anything else you need me to rub down," He gave a low, throaty chuckle. "Mrs. Blofis you're incredibly bad, and in an airplane bathroom?" Quickly Nico ducked out of the kitchen, that conversation obviously wasn't meant for him, but he got a sneaking suspicion that Percy's libido might have been a learned thing from his stepdad, and if that was the case then there was most likely not going to be a time when his boyfriend wasn't horned up. He chuckled. He loved it, he knew it and he knew Percy knew it.

After another few minutes Nico sat on the couch lost in thought like he was accustomed to being when there was nothing distracting his immediate attention when Paul came into the living room. "Oh, there you are," He smiled smartly and Nico blushed for having just heard something confidential it made him realize that Paul wasn't just some celibate older guy, he and Sally had relations much like Percy and Nico and for a moment Paul wasn't Paul, he was a guy and Nico noticed how handsome he was, funnily as quickly as it came it was gone and Nico just nodded his head. "Good, her plane'll be touching down in about twenty minutes, we should hurry." Nico stood and followed behind Paul and as much as Percy looked like his father he smiled like Paul, and he moved like Paul, and he was funny and engaging like him as well and a second dawning occurred to Nico that this man was more than a stepfather, he was a father, as big a factor in Percy's life as Sally, hell even their laughs were similar. Nico got into the familiar Range Rover and they backed out of the lot and still he sat in silence as the day was breaking and slowly turning to night and dusk was upon them. After a few quiet moments Paul finally said, "Something on your mind, Nico?" The boy looked over at him.

"No, nothing," He said quietly. "I was just thinking how much Percy's like you."

"Oh?" Paul asked with a small smile. "How do you figure?"

Nico found himself blushing again, but in the orange light of the dusk it was hard to see. "Well," He began. "You're both really good guys, and I don't think he realizes it but you both have the same sense of humor, yours is just sometimes more highbrow than his," Here Paul chuckled. "And I know that if Percy's Dad had raised him he wouldn't be half the wonderful guy he is because of you."

The driving man was quiet for a moment then he said, "Thank you," He turned the car to the appropriate street and continued, "It was hard to get into Percy's life, he was almost a teenager when I came along and kids that age can be difficult, but Sally did such a great job raising him. He looked up at me with these big, serious eyes and very sternly he told me that I had to keep his Mom happy or I'd be sorry, I told him I would." Paul recounted the eleven year old Percy. "Of course Sally and I were married not long after that, I do love my family."

"I love your family too," Nico agreed, smiling to himself and he watched the sun sink lower as a comfortable silence settled over the vehicle. Finally they pulled into the airport and after the vehicle had been valet-ed they made their way into the building to Sally's terminal and as if they had the best timing in the world the door to the terminal opened and slowly but surely passengers started to file off of the plane. Nico counted them absently, there were thirteen of them before Sally finally showed her tired but smiling face and her radiance seemed to reinsert itself into the world from her absence, strangely the sense of a child being reunited with his mother settled over Nico and he was unsure how he felt about that, he might have thought that he would be happy to see her, but before he checked himself he was damn near ecstatic. She walked forward in a simple Sunday dress, slim straps and a fringed bodice held it against her but it flowed around her calves like red milk and Nico saw her hair was down and nearly straight, it was strange seeing it not curled, as that was her natural texture.

"Nico, I wasn't expecting you, sweetie," She smiled wider after she hugged and kissed Paul and Nico again pushed aside the feeling of motherhood washing over him as she hugged him and kissed the top of his head. "I missed you both terribly," She said.

"I missed you more," Paul smiled and hugged her from behind. "You look beautiful," Sally's face drew together in slight annoyance.

"I look like I just got off of a turbulent twenty hour flight," She said and yawned behind her hand. "Let's go get my bags before I keel over." They followed behind as Sally told the tale of her time spent in Italy. "It was gorgeous as always," She said and went on to talk about the fashion shows and all the different things she had brought them back. "One of the models fell and it was like bowling, all those skinny little girls bowled over by one rogue pin, Alexander was furious," Alexander Keaton was the head designer Sally worked with, he was a flamboyant sort of man that Nico wished to never meet, he was mousy and always wearing outrageously brave—or frightening in most cases—colors.

"My grandparents live out there, well, not in Prague but in Sicily, I only visited them like once but they're coming over for the wedding,"

"Your father's mother and father?" Sally asked, an eyebrow raised as Nico nodded.

"My Grandfather is this incredibly intimidating man, but my Grandma is as sweet as can be." He remembered his time over in wine country fondly and he couldn't remember a better taste than gelato, after a few days of that it was difficult for him to have readjusted to American ice cream. But his thoughts were brought short when they stopped in baggage claim and Nico realized how much luggage that Sally had, under each arm and in both hands he was carrying bags soon, as was Paul while Sally pulled a large suitcase behind her. "I don't remember you taking this much stuff," He said and she laughed.

"I didn't, most of this stuff is for you," She motioned to the suitcase. "This is my bag, and you're carrying my make-up under that arm." Indicating to his left she continued, "I might have gone a bit crazy with picking things out, by that I mean I couldn't decide so I just got it all."

"Sally that's too much," Nico said and the woman shrugged.

"They're just clothes, didn't cost me anything. When you out grow them we'll take them somewhere and give them to the less fortunate." He couldn't exactly argue with that, but still lately he was receiving all of these decadently unnecessary gifts and it made him the slightest bit uncomfortable coming from a family that never got much, he had never cared to receive expensive things, it took a lot of prompting from his father for him to even accept his console back home, and that was under the agreement that they would put their money to better use than to buying presents for the rest of that year.

"Thank you," He said very seriously and Sally laughed.

"Don't thank me, I have my own reasons for doing this, Percy won't let me pick his clothes out anymore so this was just as much for me as it was for you." She smiled and put a hand on his back in a side hug that was made awkward by the bulky bags separating them. "But you're welcome anyway, sweetie. It's just nice to be needed," Paul laughed.

"Well, even when your little boys are all grown up I'll still need you," He smiled as he put her bags in the trunk, Nico handed him the ones he was carrying as well, and then Sally gave him the large suitcase and finally he closed the door. He and Sally kissed again and Nico found himself thinking what Percy was getting up to, as if she could read his mind Sally looked around.

"Where's Percy?" She asked.

"He and Grover are hanging out tonight," Nico said, which wasn't a lie.

"And he didn't take you?" Sally asked, clicking her tongue in a tisking, disappointed sort of manner. Nico chuckled.

"It'll be good for us to be apart for a few hours, Sally; don't want either of us getting addicted to the other."

"It's much too late for that, sweetie," She replied and ducked into the car, Nico laughed and got into the backseat. He thought she was probably right, but he could handle not being around Percy for a few hours, maybe a few days if he needed to, it was just the thought of what he might have been doing that was driving Nico crazy, he knew Percy wouldn't cheat but still, underneath it all he was still that kid who was unsure how long something good in his life was going to last. He pushed the thought aside and made his face an indeterminable mask, and as Sally and Paul talked the whole way back to their house he watched out the window lost in thought.

* * *

When Percy and Grover made their way into the house at about four in the morning Grover decided it would be best if he slept in the guest room, he was too tired to make a pallet on the floor and Percy nodded. They were both a little drunk, Grover less than Percy which was how they had gotten the car back in one piece and thankfully the police hadn't been patrolling or they might have gotten pulled over and it wouldn't have been a very fun few years after that. In truth it had been the night of their young lives, Conner and Travis' uncle was some sort of college athlete with tons of endorsements and scholarship funds and when he was finally able to come into to town he had bought all the tables at the club that was apparently his friend's father's and provided them with drinks and showgirls and they both loved every minute of them, all of the guys there had. It was almost like a class reunion not very long after graduation and if the real reunion were anything like the one tonight Grover and Percy definitely wouldn't miss it.

Percy made his way into his room, he wasn't drunk to the point of having a hangover the next morning, but he was buzzed enough to be considered over the "tipsy" parameter. He was happy to see Nico laying there in his bed, the boy slept so soundly, a deep breath every now and then but he hardly ever snored and Percy just stood there looking at him for a moment smiling. Nico was tucked tightly into his blankets and was desperately gripping Percy's pillow as if his life depended on it and the thing didn't look like it was satisfying him much as his eyebrows were drawn together. Chuckling turned to yawning and Percy shed his clothing, pulling the covers back he climbed into bed taking the pillow that was wedge quite securely in Nico's arms he instead laid there and pulled the boy closer to him. To his amusement Nico was wearing Percy's pajamas, and again the taller brunet laughed, and slowly he fell, with the assistance of alcohol in his system that had already made him warm and happy, asleep.


	17. Chapter 17

The next morning Nico woke up hot and uncomfortable, normally he wasn't so dressed in the summer to sleep but he liked the pajamas because they smelled like Percy, who, he realized, was tangled around him and snoring quite loudly. Outside it was still dark, the glow from the streetlights could be seen through Percy's once again closed window and the world around them must have still been in its bed. Deftly Nico pulled off the pajama pants that were more than too big for him and with a little maneuvering he was out of the shirt as well, then pushing the blankets off of them he settled against Percy again and lapsed back into a more comfortable state of sleeping.

When he awoke again it was nearly four hours later at ten and Percy was still snoring loudly in his ear. He ran a hand up the boy's chest and smiled to himself because this truly was how he wanted to wake up every morning. He remembered being in a similar position like this almost three months ago, it seemed a lot longer than that now, that he had nearly killed himself from all the adrenaline that would pump through him if he even thought about getting as close to Percy as he was now, and in nothing but underwear that might have surely put him in the grave. He had come so far in what could be considered a short amount of time, and he knew their relationship would change a bit when school started back up, but he was sure they would be fine because it wasn't that big a deal. Paul had said something to the effect of their books probably coming in today because they had registered for classes at the beginning of the summer and since then they had been accepted and integrated into the Brown University system. For a moment it was a scary thought, he was on the crux of life, the thing that would define how well he did in years to come and it was a lot of pressure, then a snore from the boy he had his back pressed so tightly against brought him back into the present and he knew it would be okay.

Vaguely he wondered what time Percy and Grover had gotten back into the house, he also wondered if Percy had gotten a lap dance or even if he had put any dollar bills in a stripper's underwear or anything else outlandish like that, but he pushed the thought aside figuring it was probably best he didn't know. Again turning his mind he calculated that it was nearly time for his father's wedding, it was happening in two day's time, the practice ceremony had gone off without a hitch, everyone but the bride and groom had been dressed up in their actual wedding attire as Persephone figured it was best to see how it fit now then to wait till the day itself and discover someone needed something altered, but she and Hades opted to keep to the tradition of not seeing each other in their ceremonial attire till the actual day. It was going to be a beautiful white wedding. Feeling the arms around him he wondered if he would ever get married, it wouldn't be such a huge ceremony, if anything it would be an intimate affair between him and—he hoped—Percy, but maybe he was thinking too far ahead, the idea of marriage three months into a relationship was never a good idea. Still, he thought it would be an intimate sort of thing, with him, Percy, a witness, an officiate and then bam, they would be married. He didn't need the show, didn't need the elegance, just him and Percy. He smiled at the thought of matrimony, but tossed it away as soon as it came, he would think of marriage later on in life, for now he was seventeen, hell his father was forty-one and the thought of marriage still scared him. That was how bad things happened, getting too set in one's way of thinking, he and Percy would continue to work at their relationship and if in the future they had been together long enough he would bring up the issue then, as much as he loved spontaneity it was better to be through with school and halfway into decent jobs before they started making any life decisions like that.

Then the minutes turned to hours again and Nico realized when Percy was stretching that he had been lost in thought yet again, it was becoming much worse than it used to be. The young man behind him arched his back while his bones popped and his muscles loosened and slowly he came awake, it was difficult for Nico not to note the morning's normal visitor poking him in the back and Percy gripped him tighter. "G'mornin'," He said in Nico's ear and the boy chuckled.

"Good morning, alcohol breath." Percy chuckled as well.

"You always have something to say about my breath in the morning, I don't know if I should be offended," He pushed his hips forward and Nico bucked back. "You took off my pajamas," Percy smirked.

"It got hot," Nico said. "It was either take them off or put you on the couch,"

"Well I'm glad I got to stay," Percy's hand ducked under the waistband of Nico's briefs and Nico took in a sharp breath.

"Your hands are icy," He nearly hissed.

"This'll warm them up then," Percy smirked and dug his hips forward into Nico's backside while his other hand worked its way to where the opposite one was playing, making the younger man arch his back. "I'm still on punishment?" He asked kissing Nico's shoulder, then his neck, then his jaw.

"Not if my mind doesn't catch up with my body and I remember how much I disliked you going to that club last night," Nico said and Percy laughed, quickly he straddled Nico's hips and he was kissing the boy. "So what are you going to give me for letting you go last night?"

Percy smiled deviously, "It's too early, everyone's still sleeping, you think you can be quiet?" Nico nodded. "I won't have to, like, gag you if you get too loud will I?" Percy continued with his devious look and Nico smirked.

"I'm not into that, Percy." They both laughed. "But I can't really make any promises, sometimes I sort of…I don't know, I'm not conscious of the fact that I'm yelling sometimes."

"In Italian for that matter," Percy smirked and Nico hit him. "What? Not always, but I know I'm doing a good job when you start calling God in another language." He laughed and Nico gave him a weighty glance.

"I'll be quiet," He said. "You can gag me if you want." Percy chuckled and leaned forward.

"No, I like hearing you, I just don't think anyone else is going to be happy to hear you, Mom's definitely still sleep, and Grover'll stay dead for hours without drinking so I know he's passed out, the only one who's probably up is Paul." Then Percy kissed him. "But I'll cover your mouth if I have to." Nico nodded. "Stand up then," Nico found Percy following him up and very quickly his underwear was down, then his boyfriend's as well.

"What are you—"

"Grab onto my neck with both arms, I've kind of always wanted to try this," Nico did as instructed, then his legs were lifted off the ground and he found himself clinging to the standing boy, he had been on Percy like this once before but there had been clothing between them then. Percy smirked as Nico's face reddened. "Don't worry, we'll try the other stuff I looked up later when my parents and G-man aren't here to interrupt."

"Other stuff?" Nico asked nearly scandalized.

"I told you I had plans," There wasn't anything quite like being suspended in the air while someone pushed into you, the way Nico's body was held at an angle it was in optimum position to be open and ready, though without lubricant it was still a task most arduous. But they pressed on, bodies shaking as pain turned aside to pleasure and Nico was once again biting Percy's shoulder to keep his mouth shut, absently he realized there seemed to be a groove for his teeth now worn into Percy's skin, but the standing young man didn't seem to mind as he thrust ever forward, ever upward. It was more taxing than either of them realized to stay upright as muscles grew sore and stiff not long after being locked into place and soon Nico found himself seated on top of Percy's lap as he rode him in the older teen's computer chair. It was new for him and Percy's hands were firm on his hips and where Nico might have been making quick downward movements Percy was drawing out every slow last thrust and ministration only to make Nico bite back several loud moans.

"Percy…I'm…gonna…" Nico gasped between breaths.

"Already? Geez." Percy grinned evilly. "You really should've let me get you off yesterday. Lean back let me see." Then he smirked wider and Nico had to hold onto his knees as he sat back, his own legs raised off the ground as Percy continued to drive home. He climaxed and though he never thought about it, it amazed him how the body never seemed to remember the feeling until he fell from the precipice of delight into an ocean of pleasure and drowned under waves of ecstasy. Like a fountain he drenched them in his sticky sweet juices, yet he never found rest, the next thing he knew Percy had them hoisted in the air again and they were falling onto the bed still connected as one. What they don't tell you about pleasure is that if you keep pushing it even after you climaxed it begins to build up in you all over again, and is ten times stronger the second time around. Percy undocked himself from Nico and turned the boy on his side, then hoisted his leg into the air and placed it on his shoulder while straddling the leg on the bed, pushing forward he inserted himself back into the boy and watched as Nico grew quiet and screwed his eyes shut, his mouth just hanging open with half a gasped mewl falling out of it. Percy grunted once and then he changed tempo, pistoning rapidly forward and perhaps he should have given the boy underneath him fair warning because a shriek ripped out of Nico's throat then and Percy fumbled to cover the young man's mouth with his hand as he continued his new pace. Without warning Nico came again and Percy moaned gutturally at the feeling, he took the tightening in stride and with four quick thrusts he too followed behind, filling Nico to the brim with his end product.

There was a moment of intense passion then as Percy crushed his lips down onto Nico's and he dared not pull out for even though he climaxed he was still stiffed, turning the boy on his back Percy just laid on top of him, spent and sweating but hard all the same. He weighed the thought of starting the day or going again when Nico's arms wrapped around his neck and he pushed up off of the bed to see the boy's face better. "Don't move," Nico whispered, eyes still shut and every part of him clenched Percy, then for the third time in less than five minutes he climaxed, though gradually the amount of spillage lessened with each one. Percy chuckled to himself and leaned forward again, his head resting on the pillow they were sharing and he nearly covered Nico's body with his own.

"Someone's turned on this morning." He smiled, Nico bit the side of his neck and moaned, then the older teen decided that they had plenty of sunlight to spend before getting the day started and he pivoted his hips forward once again, causing the boy underneath him to cry out again. Percy smiled and again he covered Nico's mouth with his hands.

* * *

Nico looked at the clock, it was one-thirty. Percy had fallen back asleep some five minutes ago and he wasn't sure if he could get up properly but he had to piss like it was no one's business. Shakily he stood up and found that walking wasn't going to be fun at all that day, but he pulled on Percy's boxers simply because he couldn't find his own and he really needed to pee so he half dashed, half hobbled to the door.

Throwing it open he made his way into the bathroom and let loose a loud stream of urine, he sighed in relief as the continuous stream slowly died down and he flushed the commode and washed his hands. When he exited the restroom the sound of game-play stopped him in the hallway, he followed it to discover Grover and Paul playing Street Fighters on the Xbox arcade roster, and from the groan that the younger of the two of them made Paul wasn't half bad. Grover looked up at his entrance. "It's about time you two woke up."

"I've been up for a while, Percy just fell asleep again," Nico said absently. "I can't believe you're losing." He laughed watching as Paul pulled off a wicked combination of moves and Grover's character, Ken, took a hard fall. There was the automated applause as Paul's character, Ryu, showed off for his victory.

"He's a beast," Grover said, he was dressed in a pair of Percy's basketball shorts and a long tee-shirt as he hadn't cared to run home to grab anything to sleep in the night previous.

"Well once I figured the controls out I just played like I used to, this game is older than both of you." Paul laughed. "I remember it on the quarter machines in the skate places around here in the late eighties."

"Yeah, well I want a rematch," Grover said, never one to be defeated at video-games.

"Maybe Nico would play you, I've actually got to go do some work," Paul laughed, he had stocks to check and as fun as the distraction had been he might have missed some good buys, or some opportune sells.

"When you're not busy then," Grover conceded and Paul ruffled the taller teen's hair.

"Yes, when I'm not busy," He smiled.

"Where's Sally?" Nico asked as Paul made his way past the couch.

"She's…still sleeping, the flight must have worn her out more than she thought it would," Paul laughed, a gleam in his eyes Nico saw for what it really was, it was the same glint Percy got when he wasn't being entirely truthful. Nodding Paul walked off towards his home office and Nico turned towards Grover, still smiling.

"Don't say anything," Grover said. "Grab the control and get your ass handed to you,"

"Like you handed Paul his?" Nico laughed but grabbed the controller all the same as one of the couch pillows came sailing over to him.

"Haha," Grover said sounding perturbed. "Put that between your legs, you're flashing the entire world." Nico blushed and remembered that Percy was about three times his size, he put the pillow where instructed and apologized. "We've become really tight over the past few weeks, I'm almost used to it, but don't think that means it's alright," Grover laughed and Nico knew how true that was, them becoming closer. Before he and the taller half-Black, half-Hispanic kid had been friendly acquaintances, united through one common factor: Percy. Now they were nearly as close as brothers, laughing and punching and joking around constantly with one another.

After a few hours of gaming they stopped for a lunch break and found that there was food, but it was unprepared. "You in the mood to cook?" Grover asked and Nico shook his head, he wasn't in the mood to be standing let alone cooking. "Me neither, go wake up your lazy ass boyfriend and I'll swing us by McDonald's."

"Yeah, okay," Nico laughed and started towards the door.

"And put some damn pants on!" Grover called after him. Nico thought he might ask Grover later about his childhood as he didn't know very much about him other than the fact that his Dad had passed away when he was younger. It wasn't that he wanted to be intrusive, but the summer was winding down and he was finding that at the end of it he had made a better friend and knew next to nothing about him. Nico opened the door, closing it behind him, and looked upon the sleeping Perseus who was in what some might call a "sex-coma" and he smiled as an idea crossed his mind. Stealthily he slunk across the carpeted floor and even more covertly he climbed onto the bed and straddled the naked, sleeping young man. Percy still didn't awaken and Nico shook his head.

"Per-cy," He said in the boy's ears, dipping his tongue wetly into the canal, Percy's eyes popped wide open and he jumped, but Nico's weight was just barely sufficient enough to keep them both from falling off the bed. Laughing Nico began tickling Percy's side and the boy underneath him fell into a fit of laughter.

"Nico!" He yelled. "I give, I give!" Nico smiled and kissed Percy on the mouth.

"Get up and get your clothes on, we're going to McDonald's." The younger teen leapt off of Percy before he could grab him about the waist and laughed when the newly woken young man looked as if his favorite toy had been taken away.

"Are those my underwear?" Percy asked sitting up nakedly.

"Yeah, I couldn't find mine," Nico replied looking down at the boxers that were falling off of his hips, revealing the dark patch of pubic hair located at the juxtaposition between his top and bottom half. "Percy?" Nico asked, but the aforementioned seemed to have retreated into his head as his eyes were clouded over and he just sort of stared at Nico. "Do you want them back?" The younger teen asked with a grin. Percy nodded slowly. "Then come get them."

"No," Grover's reply came from the closed door. "You guys have five mintues, I was about to knock but you know, whatever. I swear I'll let you both starve!" Percy laughed and pulled on his pants, then Nico opened the door. "You know better than to rile him up," Grover said, narrowing his eyes at the shorter boy.

"Sorry," Nico said smiling.

"Clothes please," Grover rolled his eyes. "I'll be in the car."

"Dude, we need to take you by Juniper's, you're getting pretty wound up," Percy laughed.

"Remember that limit I told you about? Yeah, already used all my "entry passes" for this week." Grover grumbled and walked to the front door. "I'll be in the car." He yelled back into the house. Opening the door he was very surprised to see Rachel Elizabeth Dare standing there poised to knock. "Hey, Rach,"

"I'm getting a tattoo," Rachel said. "It's going to be on my forehead and it'll say, "MY NAME'S NOT "RACH" DO NOT CALL ME THAT" in big bold Old English font so it's official."

Grover chuckled, "A simple, Hey Grove, might've worked." Then Rachel smiled and pushed past him.

"Hey, Grove," She laughed. "I'm guessing they're in their room?"

"Always. Everything okay?"

"Yeah, I'm upset with you all though," She turned and crossed her arms, raising a rosy eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, why's that?"

"Well, firstly for calling me "Rach" all the damn time, what do I look like Jennifer Aniston from Friends? That's not even a slightly attractive nickname. Why is Rachel so hard to say? It's two freaking syllables,"

"Calm down, Red." Grover laughed openly. "I won't call you 'Rach' anymore."

"Sorry, I had like four cups of coffee this morning, big cups, like twenty-five ounces each. It's hitting me in one big rush. Anyway, secondly, no one's called me or texted me in like weeks, Annabeth leaves and me and Juniper fall to the wayside? What? The blonde goes and suddenly the brunette and the redhead just don't matter?"

"Hey, I went and saw Juniper yesterday before I came over here,"

"'Course you did, she's your girlfriend, what about your friend who's a girl?" Grover laughed again.

"Sorry, Chelly," He smirked and her face took on a darker quality. "What? I'll keep trying."

"That wasn't even close," Then Rachel looked past his shoulder. "Also, you're parked dangerously close to Sally's roses, be careful coming out of here, what were you drunk off your ass last night or something?"

"Yeah, something like that, me and Percy went to a club." He answered.

"Without Nico?"

"He didn't want to go," Grover shrugged. "It was a gentleman's club,"

"You mean a strip joint," Rachel smirked. "He should've called me, I would have taken him to a gay bar."

"That's probably why he didn't call you," The tall young man said. "He was pretty set on keeping Percy in the whole night, they're in that weird 'don't want to do anything but have sex till we fall asleep' phase of their relationship." He waggled an eyebrow.

"Ah, yes. My favorite one, for me anyway, I think it's stupid when other people get caught there," Rachel laughed. "Where are you guys going anyway?"

"McDonald's, we're starved,"

"Sounds good, I'm coming," Then quickly before Grover had time to say yea or nay she was walking towards Percy's room. She stopped in the hallway because the door was open but for a moment she just watched them dress, it really was a shame for her, she loved them both as friends, but as young men they would be appealing to just about any woman. Sighing and remembering that Percy was as immature as Nico was moody she propped herself against the doorframe and cleared her throat. "You ladies forget you had a friend named Rachel or something?" She asked, convincingly looking upset.

"Rachel, I'm not going to lie to you I just woke up, Nico hasn't let me leave this room to replenish any of my fluids." Percy laughed seeing the merry gleam behind her eyes that just barely cracked her annoyed façade, he knew Nico wouldn't catch it, always being the one who was so inwardly capricious he never really got the whole "faking it" thing that friends did. The boy looked at a loss for words between the two of them.

"I—Percy, that's not—Rachel, I'm so sorry, I should have called you." He looked lost and as if he were seeking forgiveness and Rachel didn't miss a beat.

Gruffly she said, "You're damn right you should have called me, I've been worried sick and here I come to find out that Percy's off at strip clubs and you're just letting him go! Nico, I'm disappointed."

Percy couldn't watch much as Nico began to look forlorn, he laughed. "Okay, Rachel, we're sorry." The girl cracked a smile.

"Sorry, Nico, couldn't resist." Suddenly the boy cast her a dark look of his own.

"That wasn't funny, Rachel," Nico glowered.

"Yeah it was," She said with a wide grin. "Now come on, Grover's about to eat his steering wheel." Nico tried to cross his arms but Percy laughed and grabbed the boy by the hand, lacing their fingers together and he drug them behind Rachel and out of the door where they found Grover had successfully backed out of the driveway without hitting one of the cars, he unlocked the doors as they came.

"That took some skill, G-man," Percy commented from the back as Rachel had asserted dominance and taken the front seat.

"Yeah, well I'm a man on a mission," Grover smirked and pulled off into the street.

"Okay, guys, seriously I am just a little upset. What the hell?" Rachel asked, before anyone had the chance to answer she said. "That's not even here or there anymore, we're hanging out tomorrow." Then she sighed. "You're Dad's getting married in a couple days, Nico you better have some hot cousins at the wedding,"

"How would I know if my cousins were hot? I don't even think I have any cousins,"

"We should figure that out ASAP, maybe Persephone'll have some cute guys on her side of the family." She sighed.

"I think I've had my fill of talking about cute guys for a long while," Grover complained.

"You know you should probably go see Juniper," Rachel said. "God, you guys are horrible."

"Me and Juni'll be living together for the next four years, God that's a big step, she understands that I need a little space before then. Plus I'm leaving all my friends here, and she's got her own friends besides you guys," He smirked. "No offense to anyone."

"None taken I suppose," Rachel shrugged, but she smiled to herself knowing more than she let on about Juniper's friends.

"We're fine," Grover said. "Our anniversary is in a few weeks, I'm getting her a pair of earrings I know she likes,"

"Nico, when's our anniversary?" Percy asked looking over his shoulder at the boy he was holding hands with.

"I…hm," Nico said. "Do you want to count when we officially got together, or when we _got_ together?"

"I'm not hearing this," Grover chuckled.

"I think the first one would be better to tell people," Percy smiled. Nico calculated in his head.

"Then that's April fifteenth I think,"

"Then the fifteen of April it is," Percy laughed.

"Sweet," Rachel said. "Really, luckily I haven't eaten yet or I might throw it up." They laughed as Grover pulled into the McDonald's parking lot and he took to the drive-thru and quickly they all ordered, Rachel had already had a light brunch with her father and so she wasn't too terribly hungry. Then Nico smiled.

"Rachel who says we can't all hang out today?" He asked. Grover smiled too.

"Let me go through the drive-thru again, Juni'll want a parfait," Soon they were back on the street and Grover was driving towards Juniper's house. When they arrived at it Nico marveled at it like he always did, it was something for him to see the giant estate with the big marble columns and the wrought iron fence that you had to have a code to get into. Grover punched it in and the gates rolled back. They pulled forward on the cobble driveway and passed the rolling hills of green that proceeded the house. Juniper was the kind of girl who's family vacationed in the Hamptons, but unlike her sisters she wasn't inherently spoiled, she had a smart head on her shoulders and though her parents had volunteered to pay for her schooling she'd gotten in on her merits and scholarships by herself, they were kind enough to help Grover though who didn't need much along the lines of aid because most of his grants covered everything, but what they didn't Juniper's parents were more than happy to.

"There's really a such thing as too rich," Percy whistled, Nico's wallet had been feeling heavy with the amount of cash he was still trying to burn through that his father had given him, but suddenly looking at the house with ten bedrooms, four baths, a pool, tennis court, and running fountain at the front he felt severely financially inadequate. At the sight of Grover's mom's minivan Juniper was out of the house, her hair pulled back bounced like dark ringlets as she came around the side of the car when Grover killed the engine.

"Hey, baby!" She nearly squealed and before he could even step out of the vehicle she was throwing her arms around him. "I missed you so much."

"Told you it was a good idea to stop by," Rachel smirked, Grover gave her a baleful glance and then looked back at Juniper.

"I missed you too," Grover ignored her and Juniper pulled him out of the car; he was surprised to see five beautiful girls standing at the door, five girls who weren't Juniper's sisters.

"Everyone these are my friends," She said as they all got out of the vehicle. "This is Miranda, and Katie, and Phoebe, and Zoe, and you guys already know Selena." The last of them glared at Rachel as she stood in front of the small entourage of make-up'd cheerleader types. "You girls know Grover," She introduced. "But this is Percy and Nico, and this is Rachel." They all gave each other some sort of agreement. "Anyway, we're leaving," She announced. "My closet's open, but don't take my pink pumps again Phoebe, you're feet are _so_ much bigger than mine." The girl who was introduced as Phoebe blushed and then Juniper was pulling them away towards the car as the young ladies all retreated back into the house, Selena glaring at them. As soon as they were in the car Rachel said, "You can't just leave your friends like that."

"Oh, please," Juniper said as she let her hair down and undid a button at the top of her shirt then another one till creamy skin showed underneath. She ran her hands through her hair and fluffed it. "I can't stand those girls, but Daddy and Mommy think I should have friends that are closer to "our class" so I tolerate them, they get along great with my sisters though so they'll be fine."

"You, my friend," Percy began. "Are one class act,"

"What?" Juniper asked with a startling smile. "I'm all about family values, now come on, just sitting here I can feel the oppression of upper class America looking down on us all,"

"You are upper class America," Nico pointed out.

"Whatever," Juniper laughed and Grover pulled off quickly.


	18. Chapter 18

It's raining," Persephone sulked to her mother Demeter, who was a robust sort of woman. When anyone looked at her they thought comfort. She was rotund with a kind face and hair as long and as straight as hay, though it was all nearly gray now. She put a hand on her daughter's back and gave her another once over in the mirror, Persephone looked positively radiant in her dress of all white. It was a strapless affair with the bust curving downward in an 'm' fashion showing her clavicle and her slender arms and shoulders and hinting very sensuously at her ample bosom, but the appeal was not in the breasts themselves, but in how the dress presented them. The waist was cinched by an almost corset-like bodice, only more forgiving on the internal organs but the effect was the same, giving her an hourglass figure, though truthfully it only accentuated the one she already had. The gown flowed like spilt milk around her, and as un-elegant as that might sound it really was quite amazing.

"There, now, don't be like that," Demeter said and she smiled into the mirror and for a moment her face was as youthful as it had once been, and the roundness hinted at a beauty not yet completely lost by age. She wore a crème colored business suit jacket and a long skirt of the same color, her gray hair was pulled back into a strict bun with several loose strands falling around her face and a pair of wheat colored eyes smiled jovially at her daughter. "It will be a beautiful ceremony."

"Thank you, Mother," Persephone said, trying to calm her own nerves, she patted the nonexistent wrinkles out of her dress and examined herself more. "Do you think Hades'll like this?"

"Thomas will think you look lovely," Demeter said, she refused to call Hades by his widely publicized nickname. "I read his book; he sent me a copy of the manuscript. It was much too dark in my opinion, much too dark."

"Did you think it was a good read though?" Persephone quelled the urge to bother the precariously curled hair that was pinned down by small, fake diamonds and lace netting as it was just the slightest bit off, not noticeable to anyone but her, still she wanted to fix the little curl, but it was important in the whole mess and if she adjusted anything it would all fall apart.

"Well, yes, but I tell you I'll be sleeping with a night light from now on," The older woman said with a small, hearty laugh. She was in her sixties but refused to feel old, in fact after her daughter was married she was going to return to her fields in Middle America, her potato plantations in Ohio, cornfields in Utah, and her wheat and barley growing in Kentucky as she was a farmer of sorts, but all her fields were manned by several hundred workers so normally she just oversaw the sales to government. "Here, I have something for you," She smiled. "It's cheating, but I think you'll forgive me?" Demeter pulled out a small box from her purse. " ' _Something old, something new, something borrowed, something blue_ ', I think this constitutes as all the above," She opened the jewelry box and inside laid a thin, shimmering golden necklace with a huge pendant of sapphire hanging in the middle and two sapphire earrings beside it. Gingerly Persephone touched the necklace.

"Mother…" She said with awe.

"They were your Great-Grandmother's, she gave them to your Grandmother on her wedding day and your Grandmother gave them to me on mine, now I want you to have them and give them to your daughter on hers." Demeter waggled an eyebrow. "Which means I want grandchildren." There was a knock on the door and Sally Blofis came in as Demeter was helping clasp the necklace on and Persephone was putting the earrings in. Sally was a dressed in a bridesmaid gown of champagne color and she was smiling. "Oh, Persephone, darling you are gorgeous!"

"You too! I'm so glad you could fill in for Janet her flight got cancelled, does her dress fit alright?" She asked. "I thought you two were around the same size."

"It fits," Sally said twirling to show that it did in fact frame her nicely. "But you, oh God, I'm going to cry just looking at you. I'm so happy for you, Persephone; Hades is such a wonderful man."

"Bit dreary in my opinion," Demeter shrugged.

"Mother!" Persephone said cutting her eyes at the woman.

"I didn't say I didn't like him, I said he was dreary is all, dear. You can't be upset at me for the truth." Then her eyes sparkled. "He is a handsome thing though, isn't he? Where is his mother?"

"She's going around tasting the food and wine for the reception, no one can understand her, the poor thing doesn't speak a word of English and her husband only speaks it brokenly." Sally laughed. "She's quite a woman though; Hades and Nico are kind of acting like translators for everyone."

"I think I'd like to meet my future sister-in-law," Demeter said.

"Mother that sounds so strange," Persephone replied, but she couldn't help her brilliant smile.

"What? What else am I supposed to call her? If her son is now my son and my daughter is now her daughter then that makes us sisters." Demeter said with another hearty laugh, her huge bosom shook as she did.

"Well come on, Mrs. Gardiner, I'll escort you out there," Sally smiled and she and Demeter made their way out of the room. After a few minutes there was a knock at the door and her stepson-to-be stood there. He had to blink when he saw her.

"Wow." He said. "You look…wow."

"Thank you dear," She smiled. "You look dashing as always." Nico looked down at his simple suit of black and white and shrugged. Then the Wedding March began. "I guess that's our cue," She smiled and Nico nodded, holding a wrist out to her. She took it and they made their way through the church till they stood at the sanctuary doors. The doors opened and all the guests turned and stared in open amazement at her. All of her bridesmaids and all of Hades groomsmen were lined up on either side of the altar and Hades stood there looking dark and immaculate in his tuxedo, he gave her one of his true rare smiles and it lit up his face boyishly. She felt a blush on her cheeks as she and Nico made their way down the aisle. Much to Nico's amusement Percy and Paul were two of the groomsmen, last minute add-ins to fill the spots, as likeable as Hades was he didn't keep very many close friends to him, and the few he did keep were there with him now, and so was Percy. Slowly but surely they made their way up the aisle until they stood five feet away from the wedding party. Persephone felt her head swoon as they drew closer and she realized she was beaming. There was a gathering of friend and family alike, people he knew his Dad knew but who were strangers to him and people who Persephone knew who he had never even seen before. There were his grandparents he had gotten caught up to, and he was afraid he might use up all his conversational Italian if they kept asking him questions, he feared his answers might get repetitive and boring sooner or later, but luckily he had his Dad to help if he got stuck. Hades didn't care to admit it, but he spoke such beautiful Italian even if he didn't care to speak a word of it unless he was talking to his mother and father. They stopped at the marked area from rehearsal and the old jolly priest with the balding head and the rosy cheeks smiled at them. "Who gives this bride away?" He asked.

"I do," Nico said clearly and Persephone kissed his cheek and he ran to stand beside Percy. Persephone walked forward and took Hades' hands, she stood in front of him and then the old priest cleared his throat.

"We are gathered here today to unite these two people before God and before all of their relatives in the ever-loving bonds of the holiest of matrimonies," He smiled. "Marriage, the Good Book says, is as sacred and pure as anything that has ever existed and man and woman shall be forever joined in not only heart but soul as well," He smiled then and his rose colored cheeks pulled upward. "There is no promise in the world that is stronger than this," Nico grabbed Percy's hand and the older teen glanced over at him and smiled. "Now the rings," Two children Nico didn't know came forward with rings on pillows, they were both adorably dressed in their own tuxedoes and Nico figured they were on Persephone's side of the family. The priest said, "Now Hades grasp her hand and say: "With this ring I do thee wed." Hades said it. "Persephone? With this ring I do thee wed." The nearly crying woman did as she was bid and the priest continued. "Before we officially unite these two lovers in the eyes of our most Holy Creator they have elected to write their own vows, Thomas if you will."

Hades nodded, "Persephone," He began. "I am a writer, and yet I find it so very difficult to put how I feel about you into words. From the first moment I saw you I knew I wanted you to be my wife and I spent the next year and a half trying desperately to remember how to make a woman love me. You, my love, are a delicate flower forever in the spring of its bloom and you're as kind as you are beautiful," He paused here and kissed her hands. "And my dear you are much too gorgeous to be anything but. Persephone, I swear that for the next fifty, sixty, one hundred and eighty years of our lives or more if we're lucky enough to live that long, I will strive every day to make you as happy as you make me by simply walking into a room. I've never been good at properly expressing myself, and many people think I'm either too depressed or too dark but you saw the man underneath that and in closing I must say that I love you. I. Love. You, and if I were offered all the money, fame, and riches in the world I would not ever let you go; you are my love, and you are my life, and now you will be my wife, and for that I thank you." He kissed her hands again and her eyes watered with un-spilt tears while she was smiling and grinning like a madwoman. "I'm done," Hades said when she didn't begin her speech and the room laughed then his wife-to-be remembered where she was and that there were people present and she began.

"Growing up as a little girl I always imagined I would find Prince Charming," She said. "But now that I'm a woman I realize he doesn't exist, and if he did he wouldn't want me and I wouldn't want him. But with you, Hades, I found something so much better than anything Prince Charming could have ever offered, in you I find true love, genuine and unabashed true love and I am brimming with it. I love every follicle of your being and I can honestly say that with you in my life I am a better woman. You make me a better woman, you have provided me with not only a home but a son as well and already I love him as if he were mine," She paused and smiled at Nico who couldn't help but grin back at her. "And I have to apologize to my friends because in my opinion we are the perfect family, and that's what we are, a family. You are everything I could have asked for and more, you are spectacular and you are and forever will be mine." She touched his cheek absently. "And I love you as well, from the very bottom of my soul I love you so wholly and completely and I thank Our Lord every day for putting a man like you in my life, a strong man, a confident man, a man I can call mine and who will call me his and never will I ever regret marrying you."

"Nor I you," Hades smiled.

"Now we are to light the candle signifying unity," The priest said and motioned in front of him where a candle holder held three candles, Hades and Persephone turned to it and both grabbed the two candles on the outside that were already lit, together they lit the one in the middle. "Repeat after me Thomas," He said and Hades nodded. "I Thomas di Angelo take you Persephone Gardiner to be my lawfully wedded wife, to have and to hold through sickness and in health 'til death do us part," Hades repeated it. "Now you, dear; repeat after me: I Persephone Gardiner take you Thomas di Angelo to be my lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold through sickness and in health 'till death do us part." Persephone did as she was instructed. "Then by the powers invested in me by not only the Catholic Church but that of the state of New York I now pronounce you man and wife." He looked up to the audience. "Ladies and Gentlemen, introducing Mr. and Mrs. Thomas and Persephone di Angelo. You may kiss the bride." The audience exploded into applause and just like that the two of them were married. It seemed like such a strange and almost surreal thing for it to have been so easy, all the planning, all the time and effort and in half an hour's time that planning seemed so trivial. Hades kissed Persephone, he kissed her deeply and with a fiery passion and there were cheers from the crowd yet again, Percy whistled loudly between his fingers and Persephone found herself blushing deeply.

"Love you," Hades said and again he kissed her and she fell to prey to it, Hades laughed when she began kissing back in such a feral way. Quickly Demeter made her way up to the microphone provided for her at the altar and said, "Everyone! Everyone! The reception will be held at the Hilton across the street, it's been set up already and I want everyone in attendance! Thank you!" She smiled. Then the audience began dispersing and the photographer came forward ready to take their pictures. After several hundred, Nico was happy to find out that he got his own set with Percy which was all mostly the two of them kissing; they were finally free to go.

For the simple fact that it was raining so hard the normal gathering of people weren't outside of the church but when the wedding party got into the hotel for the reception they were all bombarded by rice as the hired DJ said, "Ladies and Gentlemen Mr. and Mrs. di Angelo," And more rice flew through the air and the crowd cheered for them.

Finally things settled down a bit more and Percy seated himself at one of the many tables, gathered around him were Rachel and Grover and a moment later Juniper and Nico sat down as well, the young Italian boy handing him a plate piled with food. "Thanks, babe." He said with a smile and Grover thanked Juniper for his own.

"That was so beautiful," Juniper said, smiling a starry-eyed smile. "Grover I want a little wedding like this."

"You call this a little wedding?" Grover asked but smiled. "Whatever you want, baby." She squealed and hugged him kissing his cheek.

"Rachel, you have to be my M.o.H.!"

"M.o.H.?" Grover asked.

"Maid-of-Honor," Rachel enlightened. "I would be happy to Juniper," And soon the girls set to planning and Grover just shook his head. He turned to Percy.

"We're not even allowed to get married until a year after we're out of school and she's already planning." He laughed.

"Girls," Percy shrugged.

"Hey, I might want to get married," Nico said incredulously. "Somewhere down the line."

"Then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Percy chuckled. "For now, here comes your Grandma." Nico looked over his shoulder and sure enough his Grandmother was making her way over to them. She had salt-and-pepper hair that was pulled back from her elderly face and she was built as if she had enjoyed a long and happy life, her face was spotted here and there with beauty marks, she shuffled forward.

"Nico, _bambino,_ " She said then in Italian she said, " _Is this that Percy boy you were talking about?_ "

" _Si,_ " Nico answered. " _Grandma this is Percy,_ Percy this is my Grandma Louisa," Then she said something and Nico said, "She says you're handsome." Percy blushed slightly and he held his hand out to her, she grabbed it and with a strength Percy didn't expect she pulled him up and out of his chair and into a crushing hug. She said something in his ear that he didn't exactly understand but it had Nico's name in it and she looked at him with hard eyes. "She wants to know if you love me?" Percy nodded and the woman smiled, her weathered face stretching widely for the berthed of it. She kissed Percy on both of his cheeks and Percy really wished he could understand her. "She said that we'll last for a long time then, if we can just remember we love each other." Then the woman grasped Nico by the shoulder and pulled him up as well and she kissed his forehead. With one last hug she let them go.

" _You've grown into such a handsome boy, bambino."_ She smiled and touched Nico's cheek. " _And you're so smart, your Grandfather and I love you._ "

" _I love you too, Grandma,_ " Nico smiled and the woman put a hand on her hip.

" _Yeah, well if you loved us so much you might come visit us in the Old Country, learn a little more about your heritage! I don't blame you though, your Papa always hated it, he was an American boy at heart._ "

"Telling stories about me, Ma?" Hades asked in English and then corrected himself.

" _Just that you hated Roma so much you had to come out here to this big scary place_ ," She replied and Hades kissed her forehead.

" _But I love you,_ " He said with a smile. " _Now get ready, after my dance with Persephone it'll be our turn._ " He looked over at Nico. "Persephone wants to dance with you when I dance with your Grandmother."

"Yes, sir," Nico nodded knowing it wasn't a request.

"Then you can dance with whoever I don't care," Though he looked at Percy knowingly and Nico smiled.

"Thanks, Dad." Hades ruffled Nico's hair and then an old Stevie Wonder song came on, one Nico didn't know and his father stood to his full height.

"That's my cue," He smiled and turned to the dance floor, Persephone looked up at him from her conversation with her mother and she returned the smile tenfold then she walked forward and they met on the dance floor. Nico's jaw nearly dropped, his father could dance. Not that old prom-style holding each other and swaying back and forth sort of dance either. He was twirling Persephone and dipping her, moving her all around the floor as if she were something that the whole room needed to see. He was showcasing her and she looked almost as surprised as Nico was, but there was a huge smile tugging at her face. She wasn't sure how he was moving them around so agilely with her long, long dress but she wasn't complaining either. "It's your day," He smiled in her ear. "I think you deserve at least this much," Then as the song slowed he pulled her close, still swirling them about as if she weighed nothing at all but his movements were more elegant, longer and more drawn out till finally the music was over.

"Where did you learn that?" She asked him and he smiled and kissed her.

"It's a born ability," He replied.

"Now it's time for the mother of the groom and the groom to take the dance floor, and for the son of the groom to dance with the bride," The DJ announced from his booth and Nico walked forward, as did his Grandmother and they took their respective partners, before Nico hadn't noticed the cameras taking pictures and recording but now that he was in the middle of it all he saw them all clearly.

"Don't think I can dance like Dad," He said with a smile and Persephone hugged him to her.

"That's okay, I think I'd like to slow it down and dance with someone who knows just about as much about it as I do." She said and they moved back and forth around the room slowly while Hades and his mother made them look like slow, handicapped turtles. She shook her head. "He says it's a born ability, you might be selling yourself short."

Nico shrugged, "Don't know, I never used to have anyone I wanted to dance with," Then he cast a look over at Percy. "But maybe I'll learn if I got something from my Dad besides all this hair."

"I like your hair," Persephone smiled. "I like Percy too, though. I wish when I was your age I would have met someone like him, but then I wouldn't be here now would I? So I'm glad I met someone like him when I'm my age instead."

"You think Percy's like Dad?" Nico asked, a disbelieving smirk on his lips.

"In more ways than you think," She said and they twirled Nico almost tripped on her train but luckily didn't fall or rip it in the process.

"Sorry,"

"It's okay, but look over at Percy," He did, the boy was poised as if he were about to leap forward. "He was going to catch you if you fell, though I think he would have fallen short. His heart's in the right place." Nico chuckled, but his face grew inexplicably hot as he watched Percy straighten out and look around to see if anyone had seen him about to jump forward. "They both want to protect you, Nico, and they both love you. I think that alone makes them indistinguishably alike." Nico nodded and she added, "I love you as well, you're my son now, if you'll have me?"

"Of course," He said and they hugged again.

She let go of him. "Now I know I'm not who you want to be dancing with, go get him." Nico kissed the side of her cheek and thanked her then he went and grabbed Percy by the hand and pulled him to the dance floor.

"You were looking good till you almost ate it," Percy smiled in his ear and he put his arms around Nico's waist, holding him close and resisted the urge to grab at his butt that rested just underneath his hands.

"You would have caught me." Nico smiled back and he laughed when Percy's cheeks became slightly pink. "You're so cute." He said and leaned up and kissed the taller boy on the lips. "And you should wear a suit more often, I like it."

"I'll let you take it off of me later," Percy whispered with a kiss to his neck.

"Excuse me," Rachel said. "May I have this dance?" Nico nodded and stepped back and she and Percy started to dance back and forth, the girl winked at him and he laughed. Then Nico found his arm being pulled back and he was suddenly holding Juniper closely to himself, he cursed the fact that he was the shortest of all his friends, and that she had chosen to wear heels.

"You look beautiful," He said to the girl he was so suddenly dancing with and she smiled.

"Thank you, clean up rather nicely yourself, Nico." She said broadening her grin. "We didn't get to dance at prom and I thought that was a shame."

"Well that's alright, I suck at dancing," Nico shrugged.

"You don't, you're leading," Juniper smiled when his feet stumbled. "Well maybe I shouldn't have said anything; you're pretty good at it when you're not thinking about it." After a few more rounds of turning Nico looked her in the face and she caught his serious gaze.

"I'm going to miss you, Juniper. I'm going to miss you and Grover after the summer's over." She nodded.

"We're going to miss you guys too," She said. "I didn't get to come around as often as I wanted to because of my father, but I valued your friendship and Percy's more than any of the stuffy girls he's always made me hang out with, and Rachel and Annabeth have both always been my best friends, even when I made them suffer through dinner parties that none of us wanted to be at." Juniper hugged him. "But we're not saying good-bye, we're just going to part for a little while and one day we'll all be together again."

"I'd like that," Nico said, but he knew the improbability of it. Then Grover tapped him on the shoulder and Nico once again relinquished his dancing partner. He looked over his shoulder to see if Percy and Rachel were still together and to his great amusement his Grandmother had stolen his boyfriend away, and he was trying very hard to look as if he understood the woman but he was throwing Nico pleading looks. Rachel took Nico's hand next and whirled him around as the soft music played.

"Don't think you're getting away from me," She smiled and Nico returned it and they began a sort of foxtrot, just moving to the music. "I've been thinking a lot about it," She said. "And I think I'm going to Brown, it's a highly accredited school and I'm not nearly as rich as Juniper but my Dad's not anywhere near poor," She said with a smile. "He'd like it if I went there, and I'd like to still be in town, plus you guys'll be there." Nico hugged her.

"Oh, thank God!" He said in her ear. "It will be so nice to have someone who'll study with me that I won't have to force to. I can already tell it's going to be a task keeping Percy in line, but with you there I won't fall behind either." He smiled widely. "Seriously though, you need to get a dorm near us, I'll get my Grandma to write down all of her recipes for me and I'll cook, I promise."

"Hey, I'm not half bad in the kitchen," Rachel smiled.

"We're going to check out our dorms tomorrow, Paul said something about it yesterday, you should come with." The girl smiled and they stepped back as the song ended, the room clapped.

"I think it's time to cut the cake!" The DJ called and Hades and Persephone came to the front of the reception room where a five layer wedding cake was waiting on them. Demeter handed them a large cutting knife and together they sliced two pieces which they fed to each other, or attempted to as soon as Persephone had her piece in front of Hades' mouth she smushed it down on his face and the man's eyes came alive as he smeared her face as well and a camera clicked somewhere around them. Then they were kissing again and there were whoops and hollers from the gathered people around them. One by one the guests got their cake and when Persephone and Hades emerged from separate facilities their faces were clean again. The woman was scandalized to see a chair sitting in the middle of the floor that she was supposed to sit on while her newly appointed husband took off her garter, but she sat down all the same and laughed along with the rest of the crowd as Hades ducked under her dress and pulled the thing off of her leg. He threw it behind and it landed on top of Grover's head. The boy looked cross eyed at the thing and Juniper laughed as she snatched it from his face.

After that there was more dancing and more eating and it was just a cause for jubilation as everyone celebrated the new union that was destined to last 'til death do they part. By some miracle the rains let up and it was warm enough to move outside, Nico caught his Grandmother saying, " _So go Summer rains_ ," And she was huddled next to a tall man he knew to be his Grandfather who was still handsome in his age, dark green eyes stared out from a wrinkled and tan face and his body hadn't gone completely to fat as he was still a hard working man, he stood tall and strong though there was a very tangible tiredness around him, he had been a working man for a very long time and it was part of who he was, but he was happy to rest and proud of his son to find another woman to love. Nico realized his Grandfather didn't talk much, but that his Grandmother made it up enough for both of them and he smiled at them, the old man waving slightly and the woman blowing him a kiss.

As the doors to the hall opened Persephone stood at the front of a gathering of women and girls and on the count of three she heaved her bouquet of the most immaculate flowers anyone had ever seen behind her. There was a scrambling for it as it sailed over everyone and landed face down in Rachel Elizabeth Dare's lap who was sitting down conversing with a rather tall and handsome young man, she looked down at the thing and Nico read a curse on her lips and he smiled even wider. These were the kinds of days they lived for and he was content to living as many as he could.


	19. Chapter 19

"So this is where we'll be living for the next four years?" Nico asked looking around the dorm room, it was barely bigger than Percy's room with two twin beds in the middle pushed against the wall divided by a nightstand. The lighting was pretty bright, far from fluorescent and there was a door that opened to a bathroom, it housed a shower, a sink with a mirror in front of it, and toilet. Outside of it there were dressers on either side of the beds for the boys to study on, which had shelves for books and other sundry items, and there was a TV stand against the opposite wall which divided two closets for clothing. The dormhouse itself was made up of three floors housing twenty different rooms each, all styled as the one they were currently standing on.

"We'll push the beds together, make it more comfortable." Percy smiled and put his arm around Nico's shoulders, the smaller boy leaned into him and Percy kissed the top of his head.

"This is a huge step, guys. Not just studying and being in school together, but living together as well, it is the defining moment for a lot of couples and you two haven't been together very long," Paul said very seriously behind them and Percy and Nico exchanged glances. "But I know you can do it, you'll both do really well." He continued. "And I know you won't go to too many parties because you're both responsible young men who put your education before your social life."

"Well, that and I don't have to go out and look for girls or anything," Percy laughed.

"Shut up, Jackson," Nico elbowed his boyfriend who only laughed harder.

"Yeah, Percy, keep it down about your conquests." Rachel said pushing into their room. "God, it smells like boy in here."

"Really, I didn't notice," Percy said looking around.

"Of course you didn't, you smell like boy too." Rachel complained.

"I think you smell nice," Nico smiled. "Most of the time," He added quickly, Rachel grumbled something and Nico shook his head and then turned to their guardian. "Thank you, Paul. For all of this," The man smiled as the other teens echoed Nico's thanks.

"You're welcome, my boy, really it's not been a problem, I've got tenure." The older man stepped back. "Come on, you've seen the place and I've shown you the buildings around here we'll stop and get something to eat and then we'll head back. Do you kids have any plans today?"

"Mall," Rachel said. "Definitely need to swing by the mall today."

"Maybe go see a movie," Percy shrugged.

"I like that," Paul replied. "Leave your day up to chance; it's been a long time since I did that."

"Do…you…want to come with us?" Percy asked hesitantly and Paul laughed.

"No, no. I'm much too old to try to hang with you kids, I know," He smiled. "though your half hearted attempt to include me does warm the cockles of my heart." Then he was ushering them out of the dormhouse and into the car. The drive back home was pretty uneventful, it was a comfortable silence filled by music from the radio and Percy and Paul occasionally sharing the score of whatever game had been on television last night. Nico, however, was distracted by Percy's thigh. It was a rebellious sort of thigh just sitting there on the seat. It refused to be clothed by the cargo shorts around Percy's waist, every time the boy would pull the pant leg up his thigh would so very innocently make it fall back down and Nico was beginning to suspect that the deliciously milk colored thing was doing it on purpose. With Rachel distracted by texting whomever she was texting Nico gave into his desire and placed a warm hand on the even warmer inner thigh.

"I mean there's really no comparing them, Kobe's got that jumper right? And what did Pippen have—" Percy was cut short as he looked down at Nico's hand; he quickly he recovered. "You know?"

"No," Paul replied. "I just think Bryant is a showboating kid, Pippen was about class, when he sunk the ball in there was a certain elegance to it. Like you waited on the shot, they're two completely different ball players."

"Uh-huh," Percy said, no longer interested in the sports.

"But don't even get me started on Jordan," Paul followed the flow of traffic and Rachel began humming the song on the radio as she had once again taken the front seat. Nico squeezed the rebellious thigh and he smiled to himself at how soft the leg was even with all of Percy's hair it felt nice. "Perce?" The older man's eyes looked into the rearview mirror and he caught sight of Nico's hand in Percy's lap, shaking his head he chuckled to himself. "Tired of talking about basketball already, Nico?" The aforementioned young man nearly jumped, he had been transfixed by the creaminess of Percy's leg.

"Uh, not really," He said turning red. "Never liked sports very much."

"I can tell," Paul smiled. "We could always compare and contrast the ideals of Plato versus say, Aristotle?"

"Ugh." Percy snorted. "What's that smell? School work I think, it stinks _pretty_ bad." Again the older man laughed.

"Alright, well I'll just get back to driving; you guys can talk about whatever you want."

"Sorry, Paul," Nico said, still red.

"That's alright, we didn't mean to bore you."

"What's going on?" Rachel asked, looking up from her phone.

"Just talking about the contrasting idiosyncrasies between Aristotle and Plato." The professor replied.

"Alright, well…I'm going to zone back out now then, shake me if we start talking about anything interesting." And like that they continued to ride in a comfortable, if not slightly embarrassing, silence. Nico didn't release the hold on Percy's thigh though, it was being punished for being so delectable looking, so abhorrently available. Percy's shorts had fallen around it just to where Nico could nearly see into them and as much as he hated to admit it if Paul and Rachel hadn't been in the car he would have been the one to rip them off of Percy. He shook his head because it occurred to him he was just as sex crazed as his boyfriend. Putting that thought aside he leaned heavily on Percy and sighed.

"Hey," Percy whispered.

"Yeah?" Nico asked at the same audible level.

"Love you," The younger teen looked up and smiled and Percy kissed him.

"Never get tired of hearing that," Nico smiled even wider. "I love you too, I always will."

"You think they'll notice if I take your clothes off?" Percy continued to whisper.

"Yes, Perseus, I might notice that." Paul called from the front. "My hearing still works just fine." Percy grew red in the face but Nico just kissed him as the music was turned up to drown out their further conversation.

"Maybe when we get to the house, where there's a door to shield their eyes." Nico chuckled.

"Promise?"

"It's not like I have a choice," Nico shrugged. "My mouth might say no, but damn it if I never mean no."

"You know if you say it like that that means I can just do it with you whenever I want to, even when you say you're not in the mood." Percy said with a smile and Nico cast him a dark look. "If you protest too much I always back off."

"I hardly ever put up a fight," Nico sighed. "Not that I mind." He smirked suddenly. "Hey, is, um, is there anything else that you've wanted to try?" Nico asked staring Percy hard in the eyes. "I mean we did the standing thing and that was really good."

"I have a list if you want to see it," Percy smiled.

"A list?"

"Well, a notebook full of stuff I found online," The boy shrugged. "I'm working on filling up a second one." Nico blushed then, suddenly sorry he asked. "So…yeah…there's that." Percy smiled awkwardly.

"God, two notebooks full. My ass is going to be split in half."

"I'll kiss it and make it better," Percy laughed. "Actually that's on the list,"

"Kissing my ass is on your list?"

"No, no. It's not like that, but I hear it's really pleasurable for the guy, you know, receiving? What's that called, the bottom? Yeah, I think you might like it." Nico knew he was blushing furiously but he couldn't be assed to care. "Why do you ask? Anything you want to try? I'm open to suggestions, comments, concerns, cries of outrage?" The younger teen chuckled as Percy tried to bring a smile out of him.

"No, I'm not creative enough in this department to think of anything else besides what we've been doing, it's all been pretty great for me." He shrugged. "But, um, I mean that standing thing was good. Really good."

"You know you're still incredibly tight, I thought by now your ass might have lost some of its elasticity—"

"Big word," Nico chuckled.

"I won't have this argument again. I know big words." Nico kissed him.

"I know you do, Percy."

"Hey, how come you don't have a pet name for me?" Percy asked suddenly. "I mean I'm always calling you babe, or Neeks, or you know something like that."

"Do you want a pet name?" Nico smiled and Percy shrugged.

"I wouldn't care if you gave me one," He smirked.

"What if I called you Mr. Big D—" Suddenly the car was off and the music wasn't playing anymore. Nico stopped himself before he could continue and he was pretty sure that neither Paul nor Rachel had heard him, but Percy was grinning like a fool.

"How's Subway sound?" Paul asked even though they were already in the parking lot.

"Like you already decided on it," Rachel laughed. "But whatever, I'm starved." She looked behind her and saw the looks on both Percy and Nico's face, the latter blushing furiously and the prior smiling from ear to ear. "God, I'll be glad when you two aren't honeymooning anymore."

"We might not be so lucky," Paul laughed. "Sally's still pretty affectionate after so many years of marriage, you guys are just always gone and never notice it, I think it runs in Percy's genes."

"His Dad is a Casanova," Rachel agreed. "For that matter why do you both have incredibly hot Dads? Like, who's got fathers that look like freaking movie stars?"

"I think I take offense to that," Paul said and Rachel gave him a baleful glance.

"Oh come off it Paul, you're cute in that "I've got a crush on teacher" kind of way." She smiled and he blushed slightly unused to the brazenness of female teenagers, clearing his throat he pulled the keys out of the ignition and opened the door.

"Anywho," He said still flustered.

"Oh, speaking of which, Nico I need to get you started on Doctor Who," Rachel said turning to look at the younger teen. "I mean I know you don't watch too much TV, and neither do I, but this is like the best show that has ever existed." Nico tore his eyes away from Percy.

"Maybe some other time," Nico smiled politely.

"Yeah, I don't need him distracted from me," Percy smiled; Rachel rolled her eyes and shrugged.

"You're passing up a golden opportunity," She too opened her door and stepped out of the car. Nico looked over at his boyfriend who was still smirking.

"Seriously, two notebooks?" He asked and Percy nodded.

"Don't worry, we'll take our time, I'm heeding Aaron's warning," The taller young man said. "You think we have enough time—"

"Priorities, Percy." Nico smiled and kissed him. "Food before sex, though I'm flattered that you'd pick me over a sandwich." Percy tried to look hurt but he failed miserably, instead he unbuckled his seatbelt and crawled on top of the younger boy.

Kissing him slowly he said, "I'd pick you over everything,"

"Sweet words," Nico cooed in his ear. "I wonder how you'd feel if we ever actually did cool down, though?" Percy sat back, he could see the smile in Nico's eyes and on his lips, but beyond that he saw familiar doubt. Percy knew Nico was the kind of guy who would spring whatever was on his mind out loud in a manner that would seem playful and coy, but Nico might always be the doubtful type. The mood tasted sour suddenly and Nico knew something was amiss by the concern in Percy's eyes.

"Don't do that," Percy said and Nico's cheeks tinged pink.

"Do what?" He asked.

"You think if you stop putting out I'd lose interest." Percy replied; his face set in a deep scowl.

"I didn't say that," Nico countered.

"Alright," Percy said. "Do you think that if you stop putting out I'll stop seeing you?" The younger teen was suddenly quiet, his eyes darting back and forth as they searched Percy's face for any sign of anger or malcontent. In all the time they had been together, all ninety-one days of it he had somehow forgotten how fragile, how insecure Nico was under the surface. He was like a frozen over pond, if you broke the hard covering everything would come flowing out of him. Suddenly Nico's eyes were red. Percy softened his voice, "Do you?" He asked putting a reassuring hand on the boy's face. Nico opened his mouth and closed it again. He gulped.

"No," He finally said after a few minutes. "You're too nice to break-up with me, but I know you'd be unhappy." He said and somehow the unspoken phrase he had left out seemed to hit Percy's ear. _You'd find happiness somewhere else_. Percy kissed Nico softly on the lips, running his tongue along the tender flesh there and the boy underneath him shivered. "It's such a big part of our relationship."

"I would never cheat on you," Percy said.

Nico smiled sardonically, eyes still red, "It's not like I'd stop putting out in the first place, I'm addicted to you, I'm just as bad as you are but I know how much you like it when I make you chase me."

"I do like feeling like I'm making progress," Percy smirked. "You don't have anything to worry about it, we could stop having sex anytime, you and me, and I would be just as happy with you as I was at the beginning of this whole thing."

Nico laughed then. "You don't count blowjobs as sex though, that's why you're okay with it." Percy shrugged. "Can I admit something to you?"

"Of course," Was the reply.

The younger teen faltered for a second and then he said, "I want you, like, everyday. If I'm not doing something that is of the utmost importance I'd rather be in bed, or against a wall, anywhere with you pressed up against me." Nico put a hand on Percy's chest. "When I'm with you I…no, this is stupid. I shouldn't say anything. I know you love me, and I know you won't break-up with me if we stop doing it. That's all that matters."

"No," Percy said and he took Nico's hand. "No, finish saying what you were going to say."

"You're going to make fun of me," Nico said.

"You're pouting again," Percy smiled. "I won't make fun, I promise."

"It's stupid," Nico tried to say nonchalantly, going so far as shrugging. "I—when we're together I just feel, like, you know—whole. I mean its dumb right? I want to be wherever you are, and I know I'm boring and quiet and everything but you've always made me feel like I was part of something more. Something interesting and exciting, even when all we're doing is watching TV." The younger teen was red now and he wouldn't meet Percy's eyes. "That's why I wouldn't care if you gave me the ultimatum, I'll do whatever it takes never to lose this feeling. Whatever." Finally Nico looked up. "Stop smiling at me like that."

"But you're so cute when you're being all insecure," Percy laughed and Nico punched him in the chest. "I love you too, as cute as you are flustered I like it when you tell me how you feel. I feel like we've had this conversation." They had. "But, listen, Nico if ever you're doubting something between us tell me. I think we've talked about that too." They had. "You're special to me, okay? I poke fun at you because I love you, I don't mess with you like I mess with Grover or Rachel or Juniper—" He almost said or Annabeth but stopped himself, it would have been a lie if he would have said he had never teased her because he loved her. "So far you're the only guy I'll ever be comfortable enough to call my boyfriend, and I hope you always will be." Then he smiled. "But remember, if you get tired of me you can just dump my ass, I'll understand."

Nico smiled too, "What a waste of ass," He said and Percy leaned down slowly and kissed him. There was a tapping at the window and both boys looked up.

"What do you want from inside, since you're both clearly too busy to order?" Rachel asked staring down at them as if they were children she had scolded far too many times and was just resigned to letting them misbehave now.

"We can come in," Percy said and Nico nodded.

"Oh, no, please. Don't let me and the entire restaurant that's waiting behind Paul interrupt you." The girl said holding up a surrendering hand. "We wouldn't want to impose." Percy laughed and climbed off of Nico and Rachel opened the door for him.

"Thanks," He smiled down on her when he was standing and she only rolled her eyes. Nico climbed out behind him and put his arms around Percy's waist. They walked into the restaurant and quickly Percy and Nico ordered, apologizing to Paul.

"I sort of figured it would happen when you two didn't get out behind us," The man said, then he paid and they grabbed their subs. They ate in the restaurant, making casual small talk and time seemed to go by rather quickly and soon they were done with their food as well and they were heading back out of the establishment. When they finally returned to Percy's house they forewent going inside and instead climbed into Percy's Sonata since he refused to ride in either Rachel's Prius or Nico's Golf and they were waving bye to Paul who looked slightly relieved to have the house to himself and Sally.

"Your Mom and Dad are totally going to do it," Rachel observed.

"Must you? Every time someone's parents are left alone?" Nico asked her.

"No she's right," Percy said. "That's another reason they let us do whatever we want, they're sort of paying me back for forgetting I'm home sometimes, which is why I don't always try to keep you quiet." The taller brunet winked at Nico who in turn sunk further into his seat.

"Can we change the subject?" Nico asked, annoyed.

"You're much too modest Neeks," Rachel laughed.

"She's right, you always make the cutest sounds, _Per-cy_ ," Percy imitated Nico's voice, though it was more of his own in a trembling falsetto. "OhmyGod, _Dio_! _Dio_! Right there!" Nico felt his face burn brightly and he glared over at his boyfriend who was smiling from ear to ear even as he didn't turn his eyes from the road. Admittedly Percy was a good driver, the best Nico knew, but that didn't mean the younger teen didn't want him to see the look of malice on his face.

"Can you not? In front of Rachel, please?" Nico asked, his voice dripping with venom.

"Sorry," Percy said with a grin, he could feel Nico's eyes boring into him.

"I swear, it's like dating a two year old,"

"You _like_ it," Percy persisted.

"Just drive," Nico said and Rachel laughed.

"You guys are too cute, especially you Nico you're like all doom and gloom but underneath it all you're a blushing virgin," She smiled and Nico felt face burning again.

"Oh, he's no virgin." Percy said. "I've made sure of that every day for the past three months."

"Would everyone please just _stop_ talking now?" Nico asked, fury in his voice. Rachel touched his shoulder.

"Calm down, Nico." She said. "It's just me, I'm not going to go around telling people how you sound in bed."

"But it's our private life," Nico said. "I mean it's okay to laugh at me every now and then, but not with something personal like that." Percy smiled lost its smugness and he turned to look at Nico.

"I'm sorry, baby." He said, eyes flitting back to the road. "Won't happen again."

"Good," Nico said arms folded over his chest. "Same goes for you." He said pointing at Rachel. "Or I'm not talking to either of you again." Rachel smiled and pinched Nico's cheek, who knocked her hand away.

"You're all pissy now," She laughed. "I won't mess with you anymore then,"

Nico sighed, "Has anyone called Grover and Juniper? Do they know we're almost at the mall?"

"Who do you think I've been texting all day?" Rachel asked motioning to her phone. "Juniper and Grover spent the day together, they stopped talking to me around the same time when we were looking around campus so I figured they got up to some…business, but Juni said they were getting ready to head over that way. What are we going to see at the movie tonight?"

"Last Rite," Percy said. "It looks wicked cool."

"Anthony Hopkins is epic," Nico agreed a bit less tempermental.

"Okay, so mall, movie, food?" Rachel asked. "Where're we going to eat?"

"Stop planning so much, we'll just grab some Taco Bell or something." Percy shrugged.

"I am not eating that slop," Rachel said. "Nothing in the world could make me eat that." The driver laughed, as did Nico.

"Fine, Juniper won't eat there either, we'll get some pizza or something then." Soon they were pulling into the parking lot of the mall and Percy turned the car off. He looked over at Nico. "Still mad at me?" He asked and kissed the boy's cheek.

"I'm never mad at you," Nico said.

"That's a lie," Rachel said getting out of the car.

"There's a difference between anger and annoyance," Nico pointed out. "Besides, he's cute when he's annoying me, in that grudging sort of way that a dog that's pissed on the carpet is cute."

"So you want to beat me with a newspaper?" Percy asked.

"Repeatedly," Nico replied and he graciously accepted another kiss as Percy opened the door for him and he stepped out of the car. He took the boy's hand and smiled. "You haven't said anything about what I'm wearing, it came with some of the stuff your mom bought me." Nico said motioning down to his clothes. He had a crew neck stripped shirt on, it was a beige color with gray strips throughout, it was loose fit but showed his slim physique rather well, the sleeves were cut an inch off the shoulder and revealed long, slender arms and the front of it was gathered into his pants showing the large golden belt buckle underneath. He had never taken to wearing skinny jeans, but at the moment he had a pair on and as much as he hated to admit it they were comfortably tight against his legs, they were all black and the cuffs were tucked his high-top sneakers.

"You look nice," Percy smiled. "You always look nice."

"Percy, you ignoramus, if your significant other asks you how they look you're supposed to make a big fuss about it." Rachel rolled her eye. "What Nico wanted to hear was how hot you thought he was, and how you couldn't wait to rip it all off of him." Nico found color on his cheeks.

"Rachel, you just said you'd leave me alone," He said.

"What? I was just saying…" Rachel smiled. "Besides, you're the one fishing for compliments."

"Am not!" The younger teen replied, Percy ruffled his hair and left his head stationed on top of Nico's head.

"Either way, you do look good, all that stuff Rachel said and more, I just thought you didn't want me to say what I was really thinking out loud." He smirked. "Can I say it?"

"N-no, it's fine," Nico said as Percy pulled him close and it still astounded him that his heart beat when he leaned against the older teen's chest, when he inhaled his scent, felt his warmth. He shouldn't have still been blushing.

"Perce! Nico! _Raquel_!" They turned around to see Grover and Juniper coming forward. Percy smiled when Rachel's face took on a dark quality.

"Raquel?" She asked when he was hearing range.

"What? You don't like that either, man you're hard to please." Grover smiled widely, he and Juniper were nearly connected at the hips and the girl wore her own dazzling dark smile as she leaned her head in the crook of Grover's arm. Oh yeah, Percy thought, they had totally be doing it.

"Get it G-man," Percy smiled slapping five with Grover, who in turn grabbed his hand and pulled him close, they patted each other on the back and Grover whispered in his ear.

" _You know I did_ , _four times bro_." He smiled when they let go of one another. Percy smiled wider and it seemed to say ' _That's what I'm talking about_.'

"You two are doing that thing," Nico said looking between them. "That thing where you're talking but you're not really talking and I don't like it." Grover and Percy shared an expression that spoke of their devious nature and then they were both laughing.

"Don't worry, Neeks, we're _totally_ not doing that," Grover laughed and put an arm around the boy's shoulder.

"You're such a bullshitter," Nico chuckled and shook his head, ducking out from under Grover's arm to hug Juniper. "At least you're the sane one between the two of you," He said and she hugged him back.

"Thank you, though it's not much of a compliment considering it's like dating a two year old." Juniper laughed.

"I said that earlier today!" Nico exclaimed. Rachel crossed her arms and cleared her throat.

"Oh, I see, fifth wheel. Gotcha, I definitely didn't get a hug today, Nico." Nico laughed again and went over to Rachel, he tried to put an arm around her put she a hand to his forhead, holding him back at an arm's length. "No, no. I don't need your pity hug, and to think I gave you the last of my coffee reserves. I've been drinking the sludge from Starbucks now for weeks because it takes a while for those beans to be baked and ground properly."

"I'm sorry," Nico smiled and he moved her arm out of the way and took her into a big hug. "I promise I won't forget to hug you again."

"Whatever, I don't need your affection," She said and then she laughed. "Okay, you gotta let me go, you smell like Percy." Nico looked at her with wide eyes and stepped back, then he sniffed his shirt.

"I do not!" He replied.

"Hey, you said you liked the way I smelled." Percy said and Nico gave him a weary smile.

"I do, on you!" Nico smiled. "Rachel you're such a liar,"

"I know, next time you won't be giving me your pity affection." She smirked and shouldered her tote bag then with a raise of her shoulder and a pep in her step she was walking forward. "You guys coming?"

"She's spicy," Grover laughed.

"I blame the red hair, plus she's kind of short, that's never a good combination." Suddenly Rachel's hand was in the air and she was holding up her middle finger behind her.

"God I love that girl," Nico laughed and followed behind her.

"Me too," Juniper said and grabbed him by the arm they ran forward to join her.

"Percy," Grover said looking over at his best friend. "If Nico was a girl I'm pretty sure I could see him, Rachel, and Juniper in a threesome."

"That would be awesome." Percy said nodding his head emphatically yes. "Hell, I can see it with him just the way he is, long as I got to be a part of it too." He smiled. "Then again I don't have those gender barriers that you do."

"I know man, guess I'm not as open minded as I seem," He smiled.

"Nah man," Percy put a hand on his shoulder as he watched the advancing group in front of him walk away and he wondered to himself how his friends could all have such great assets."You're just not attracted to guys, it's all good, and Nico might be the only guy I'm ever seriously attracted to."

"Sad, I thought I had a chance," Grover chuckled.

"Sorry, you're not my type, too tall, too much facial hair," Percy replied, returning a malicious grin. "I like 'em bite-sized and named Nico," Grover laughed and clapped Percy on the back.

"Come on man, we'd better get going before they decide they want to stop at every store from here to the food court." Percy shook his head.

"As if we could stop them."


	20. Chapter 20

"Leo, Leo just let's talk about this?" Jason Grace was eighteen years old. Jason Grace was eighteen years old and during the Summer he had finally graduated from high school with his best friend Leo Valdez. Jason Grace was eighteenyears old and during the Summer he had finally graduated high school with his best friend Leo Valdez; who he had just kissed. Jason Grace was what some might call "royally screwed" and he hated it. The thing was, Jason was the captain of the football team, and the baseball team, and the swim team, the wrestling team, basketball team, weight-lifting team…the list went on and on. Needless to say Leo never thought Jason was the kind of guy that would have just planted one on him, yet there they were staring at each other with wide-eyed shock and the taste of the other lingered on their lips. Jason stared Leo down, as he was much taller than the small Mexican-American youth, and fear was in his eyes that his best friend would make for the door and they would never talk again. God above he was an idiot.

Leo was a lot of things, Leo was a grease monkey, he loved cars. Leo was an engineer; he loved taking things apart and building stuff to find out how it worked. Leo was a pyromaniac because…well, he liked playing with fire. But among the many facets of Leo he was also cute as a button. He stood about five foot four with curly midnight hair that swept his shoulders and stood testament to his Mexican heritage, his huge brown eyes were moving back and forth searching Jason's face. Skin the color of an oak tree laid against his skinny frame, it was as soft as it was brown and when he didn't have his hair pulled back by a large bandana and grease smudges were against his cheeks he was utterly adorable. Hell, even with the grease smudges and the bandana he was fucking cute. Jason hated it. He hated that he wanted to grab the boy by his pointed chin and pull him closer to kiss him again on his flesh colored lips, he wanted to run a finger down that nearly crooked nose of his because it had been broken one too many times from his clumsy nature. He wanted to stare deeply into those oaken eyes and see every feeling he felt reflected back at him. But the only thing that Jason could see was confusion, confusion beset by shock.

"Fuck Jason," Leo said near in a whisper. "I-I-" But before he could say anything else Jason grabbed him by the arms and kissed him fiercely. He pushed all the feelings of himself into that kiss; every last thing he felt down into Leo's lips. For a moment they were lost to one another, for a moment Leo moaned out as Jason's large, deft hands found their way under his shirt and he was pushed against the wall. Jason groaned as he ground his erection against Leo's growing flaccidness. Then the smaller boy pushed him off. Leo stared through even wider eyes, his pupils nearly the same size as a sharpened pencil's point as he looked at his supposed best friend. Jason was handsome, God he was the definition of handsome. Beautiful golden-white locks sat on top of his head, cut closely but were long enough to run your fingers through. He had icy blue eyes that seemed to hold too much confidence; except for right now, right now they were full of fear and an underlying lust. Jason had a squared jaw, and he just looked like a fucking model with his hard body and the thick abdominal muscles Leo knew to be under his shirt with that defined chest of his. But, Jason Grace and Leo Valdez were best friends, and up till this point they were both supposedly straight. "I didn't say do it again." He said shoving Jason. "Goddamn it!" He pushed past the tall, tall blond, and he was more shocked than he was angry, but he just needed one goddamn minute to think!

"Leo, man, wait, I'm sorry!" Jason called after him and Leo stopped at the door.

"No, sorry is doing it one time, you're not sorry man." Leo shook his head. "Oh my God, and I think I liked it. Fuck, you're messing with me aren't you? Did your fucking jock buddies put you up to? Kiss the obviously gay Mexican kid! Like I don't get picked on enough Jason, I thought you were different!"

"No! Leo, I like you! I've liked you since like freshmen year!" Leo laughed unbelievingly, that sarcastic high-pitched laughed he gave when he was incredibly uncomfortable.

"Yeah! That's why you fucked like every girl in the school, no I don't know what your deal is man, but just…don't talk me again!" Then he was gone and Jason was staring after him, tears tugging at his eyes that he didn't want to let fall. He heard the door to his house open and then slam close and he put his forehead into his hands. How had he just fucked up so royally? They weren't doing anything, Leo was just sitting there talking about the differences in transistors by year and Jason had just been watching him. No, Jason corrected, he had been watching his lips move, Leo always looked so adorable when he was talking about mechanics and then one thing led to another and he was tonguing his best friend. Leo liked it! He had said he liked it, but so many people had messed with Leo, messed with his head. Because of his diminutive stature and even if Jason didn't see it people told him the kid was clearly gay, maybe it was the way his hips swished but Jason was sure he was the only one who noticed that. He groaned. He shouldn't have just kissed him, but for some reason Jason thought Leo might've like _him_ , he was the guy that was always defending Leo. The guy that was always stepping up to the bullies for him and the same guy who was slowly falling in love with him, with his laugh and with the way his eyes nearly became slits when he found something particularly funny. He loved that Leo could belch louder than anyone he'd ever known and he found the boy just loveable beyond any measure of the word. Something brought him out of his thought as he heard something.

"What the hell makes you think I'd do something sleazy like that?" He looked up as his sister Thalia was yelling. She had company over, some guy that was about their age as Thalia was only about a year older than him. Jason pushed aside his sadness and took on the role of the big, strong brother. Even if Leo had just ran out on him he couldn't let something happen to his older sister. He went to her door and he heard the guy whispering on the other side.

"Look, alright. I've already got the other one I need, and you go to Brown, right? My father and I did extensive research on the girls there and you were one of the ones we picked for this sort of thing. Come on, you'll make a little money on the side."

"I'm not some slut, you can find somebody else buddy. Don't come on to me and then it's okay to spring something like this on me. Just get out." Jason opened the door.

"Everything alright in here?" He asked and his eyes swept the room. His sister was in there of course, she was two heads shorter than him but she was tougher than any chick he knew. She had nearly obsidian black hair like their father, but some pigment discoloration or something had scared a shock of white into it, making a lightning like streak through her thick, loosely curled locks. Jason would admit that he sister was pretty, but you know he'd never tell her that because as her younger brother there were certain annoying standards he had to uphold. She had their mother's face, it was beautiful in its oval shape and her blue-green eyes as well. Her expression was set in its normal grimace-like state and Jason looked over at the guy she had her arms crossed at and her scowl turned to. He was…gorgeous. Alright, perhaps that was _too_ gay, but he really was. He was taller than Jason, which was strange because Jason was nearly six feet tall. He had a glorious mane of tightly curled hair that shone out around his head in black-brown sprigs. Jason was surprised to see eyes like the sea behold him, and suddenly he felt like he was drowning. The young man smiled.

"You'll do," He said at the sight of Jason.

"What?" He and Thalia asked.

"Dad said if I can't find a girl then Nico would be fine with a guy." The kid said, well, he was almost a man.

"Look, guy," Jason said. "I don't know who you are, but I think my sister told you you should leave."

"I saw you come in here with that kid," The older guy said. "You were ogling him pretty hard, so I'm guessing you've got a little sugar in your tank." Jason felt slapped, had he really been so obvious when he looked at Leo? "He shot you down, didn't he?"

"Jason what the hell is he talking about?" Thalia asked. "You…like Leo?"

"Not right now, Thals," Jason said staring the guy down hard. "How do you figure that?" The young man held out his hand and a greasy smile took on his features, he suddenly looked like a shark.

"Name's Triton, but you can call me Tony." Triton said. "I've got a proposition for you."

* * *

"I hate saying good-bye," Juniper said, tears falling out of her eyes.

"Whoa, whoa," Nico said hugging her tightly. "It's not good-bye, remember? We're going to see each other all the time, you told me that." Then he offered her a watery eyed smile. He hadn't expected to get so close to these two, they had always just been friends he took on to stay close to Percy, but here he was nearly in tears because they were about to get on their flight.

"You're going to be like the best scientist/doctor/economist ever." Percy said still shaking Grover's hand.

"You don't have any idea what I'm going to do, do you Perce?"

"Not a one," Percy smiled and he and Grover hugged then he held the other teen at an arm's length. "I'll miss you G-man."

"I'll miss you too, Percy."

"What, nothing for me?" Nico asked and Grover smiled and gave him a bear hug.

"I'll miss you too, Neeks, we're going to have to all get together soon and do something."

"Strip club?" Percy asked.

"Bowling," Nico said, trying not to seem amused by Percy's remark but they all laughed. Rachel and Juniper were exchanging good-byes and for a moment it hit everyone just what was happening. When Annabeth had left it had sort of set in that everything was going to be different, but now it was solidified. The band really was breaking-up, going off to different corners of the States to start new lives. They were growing up and it was somehow enough to bring a tear to each eye. Then Grover hugged Rachel tightly and she whispered something in his ear, he laughed.

"Leila, I like that." He smiled. "I'll see you later Lays,"

Rachel chuckled and shook her head, hugging him back. "I give you my nickname and you shorten it even more." She said squeezing him tightly. "I'm going to miss you so fucking much, you two have to e-mail me every day."

"And I want to be Skyped," Percy said with a smile.

"And when we go on break we have to hang out, no matter what, right?" Nico asked and everyone nodded.

"Grover, _mijo_ ," Julia said rushing over to them, her long curly hair was topped off with a wide-brimmed sun hat and she was wearing a Sunday dress with sandals. "We have to get on the plane," Grover turned to his mother and nodded, she was going down to Florida with them for a few days to make sure they were settled in and then she would be making her way back to the city.

"Okay, Ma," Grover said and nodded, then he took Juniper's hand and he looked back at his group of friends. Rachel was openly crying and Nico was doing his damndest not to let the tears flow and he doing a horrible job at it as they brimmed over the edge, but he was smiling as he was waving. Percy on the other hand just stood there with his hands in his pocket, and a small grin on his lips, he gave Grover one last nod because he knew they would be the best of friends forever. Grover could trek across the entire world for thirty years and then show up in Percy's life again and things would begin right where they left off. Juniper let go of his hand and ran back, throwing her arms as best she could around Rachel.

"I'm going to miss you so much!" She said for the millionth time and Rachel hugged her back saying something shrieking and unintelligible, which was so very out of character. Juniper replied in the same sort of babble and then she turned to Percy and Nico and threw an arm over both of them. She shrieked in their ear and the boys really couldn't help but laugh as they hugged her back and Grover came and grabbed his girlfriend about the waist, prying her from them and half carrying, half dragging her away as she continued to shout her good-byes. Soon they were past their terminal and boarding their plane and Percy smirked, eyes glossy.

"If there's one thing about the girl she gives a hell of a good-bye," He said, wiping at his face. Rachel only nodded; she didn't trust her voice just yet. Nico just stared after them then as the plane taxied away he grabbed Percy by the hand.

"Let's go," He said quietly, wiping his face with his other hand. Silently they all agreed, but they couldn't bring themselves to look away until after the aeroplane was high into the air and was sailing away; it was finally a speck on the horizon when Percy pulled them away and they all slowly walked to the car where Sally and Paul were waiting to drive them all away.

"You guys okay?" Sally asked seeing their sullen expressions. Percy shook his head 'yes' and then they all piled into the Rover and it pulled them away. There was a feeling they knew to be sadness, but it was easily swallowed because there was no such thing as good-bye, only see you later. Still, Nico found himself leaning heavily against Percy, his face buried in his chest and Percy was rubbing large circles into the boy's back. They would be moving into their own dorm in a few days, and a week after that school would be officially started. Suddenly the Summer didn't seem long enough, suddenly life seemed all too real and they knew they weren't children anymore, but they hadn't been children since before graduation.

"I love you," Nico said resting his head on Percy's shoulder.

"I love you too," Percy said.

"Can you promise me something?" The older teen looked down at him.

"Anything, baby." Percy said, his voice soft with promise.

"That you'll always love me." Nico said and Percy put his arms around the boy's waist.

"Of course," Percy smiled sweetly. "Every day I find myself loving you more, Nico. I think right before we go to sleep that there's no way I'll be able to love you anymore than I already do, and then I wake up to you sleeping on my chest with that little scowl on your face," Percy touched the side of the boy's mouth. "And I fall harder. You've got me wrapped around your little finger," He smiled and leaned down. Nico finished the kiss and their lips moved together slowly, surely.

Rachel stared out of the window watching New York wrap around them, smiling to herself as she distinguished the tourists from the denizens. It wasn't very hard, the citizens were the people who didn't stop and look around, they weren't the ones who were toting "I Heart New York" caps and shirts, the citizens were the ones who were used to the daily shuffle, who weren't scared by the loud sounds, or taken by the vendors on the streets selling wares. She thought that New York had just lost three of its best people, Annabeth, Juniper, and Grover would be back sure, but her state wouldn't be the same with them not permanently there. She sighed and turned the volume up on her music, she was playing Muse, it just seemed appropriate, plus she adored the band itself. Her life was better than she thought it would ever be, she had great friends, she was going to be going to a great school, and she and her father were beginning to get along again. It just seemed empty now that her two best girlfriends were gone. She knew she could and would make more, but none would ever replace them.

With that thought they were speeding back to the Jackson's house, Nico's father and his new stepmom were still away in Paris so Percy and Nico had taken the opportunity of an empty house and had sort of moved in there until further notice but now they had to get the boys things together so they could prepare the dorms. Rachel's father had people to do it for her, it wasn't like she had too terribly much to move, her easel, her canvases, her paint brushes and her clothing were about all she wanted, well, that and her laptop. She didn't have too many belongs that meant anything to her, and she considered herself to be just above mediocre as an artist, but what she really wanted to do was to be an actress. The thought of becoming a whole new person, taking on an entirely new existence it appealed to her greatly. Then she could get all of her friends together again after school and things would be like they always had been. She smiled to herself and shook her head because no, things wouldn't be the same; they weren't those same kids anymore. But now they were better, soon they would be productive, soon they would be doing things that meant something to them and they would still be able to hang out and life would be great.

Before any of them knew it they were pulling into the house, strangely enough there was a kid sitting on the front steps and a weary feeling settled on top of the already introspective mood the dwindled group was in. They climbed out of the car and the kid looked up, he was about ten or eleven and he had a familiar set to his eyes, and even more familiar brown hair. "Shit." Percy said under his breath as the kid stood. He was the spitting image of Poseidon, the spitting image of Percy. The boy smiled and approached them, he seemed like the happy type as he stopped in front of them but suddenly he seemed shy as he turned his greenish-blue eyes down to the ground.

"Hi," He said wringing his hands in front of him.

"Hi…" Sally said appraising the child as they all piled out of the car.

"Look, I—I know none of you probably want to see me, but I wanted to see you, Percy." The kid said. "I'm…my name is Odie, its short for Odysseus,"

"Wow, Perce, your Dad picks the worst names for kids," Rachel laughed and the boy blushed at the sight of her. "Aw. He's cute," She said touching the kid's cheek, who became even redder.

"You wanted to see me?" Percy asked and Odysseus looked up at him like a mirror's reflection, the only real thing different about them being eye color, height, and age.

"Yeah, I'll probably get in trouble for sneaking out to see you," He shrugged. "But, I mean things can't be nearly as bad as they say they are. You don't look like a fairy," He turned his attention to Nico and Percy's face took on a darker expression.

" _Don't_ call him that." Percy said between clenched teeth.

"I-I'm sorry…wh-what does it mean? I thought fairies were those things with wings that flew around like in Peter Pan." Odie replied and he looked hurt afraid he really had offended anyone.

"Sweetie, it's not a good name to call people," Rachel said and Odie nodded.

"I'm sorry," He said to Nico who smiled.

"It's okay." The young man said and Odysseus looked pleased.

"I don't see the big deal if you like boys," Odie shrugged. "I like boys too, but I'm afraid to tell Dad, he'll get mad at me like he's mad at you too."

"You like boys?" Rachel asked.

"Well, I mean I like everyone." Odie said and Rachel laughed again.

"Honey that's not the same—" She let the sentence die on her lips. "There's nothing wrong with liking everybody."

"I like everybody," Percy smiled. "Come on in Odie, we'll talk some more."

"I can't, I really have to get back I just wanted to meet you, at least once." Odysseus said, then he went forward and put his arms around Percy's waist. He stepped back and looked down at the ground. "Sorry."

"It's okay little man," Percy replied and ruffled the boy's hair. "You can come back and visit anytime." Odie smiled widely at that, then he turned to Nico.

"So you're my brother's…"

"Special friend," Nico smiled. "We kiss and hold hands and stuff."

"So you're his boyfriend," Odie nodded. "Gotcha," Then he hugged Nico too. "Whatever they say about you I don't think it's true." The kid smiled widely. "You seem like a really cool guy." Nico laughed.

"You're not so bad yourself, come visit us again, don't let them brainwash you." Nico laughed as he stepped back and then Odie was standing in front of Rachel, his face began to burn.

"I don't get a hug too?" She asked and then cast a look at Percy. "What is it with you sons of Poseidon? Do I just give off a pheromone that's like 'don't touch me?" She laughed and the boy suddenly looked uneasy.

"You're…just…really pretty," He said looking at the ground and if Rachel had ever wanted to see Percy blush and stammer she was getting a pretty good idea of what that might look like. She leaned down and hugged him to her, kissing the side of his cheek.

"You're cute kid, don't grow up and be a heart stealer." The boy grasped his cheek and his entire face was nearly as red as a beet. He stumbled away, staring behind him at Rachel the entire way.

"You think he'll be okay going out there unchaperoned?" Paul asked.

"Probably, but you should follow him just in case," Sally said and the man nodded getting back in the car and turning the engine over. "I'll be back," he said from the rolled down window then he was pulling out of the driveway and following after Odysseus.

"It seems like you have an unending amount of brothers," Rachel said.

"Yeah, and apparently they're not all douchebags," Nico laughed.

"Good to know not all your father's genes are infecting his other children," Sally said then she blinked. "Whoops, did I say that out loud." She laughed uneasily and walked into the house quickly.

"Geez, your Mom has some bad blood with your Dad."

"Yeah, she's not the only one," Percy shrugged. "Come on, it's not really that important." He said and they followed him into the house where the sounds of Sally in the kitchen were filling the medium sized home. "Crap. Mom is feeling down, she's cooking."

"But your Mom is always cooking," Rachel said.

"Yeah, but she's cooking with onions and bellpeppers," Percy said.

"Why is that a problem?" Rachel wondered.

"Because my Dad's allergic to both," Percy laughed. "Thankfully I'm not or I might've been killed from all the times we've had stuffed bellpeppers after he pissed her off."

"God that's dark," Rachel laughed. "If your Mom was like fifteen years younger…"

"Please, please don't finish that sentence," Percy said shaking his head. Paul came in behind them. "Did you follow Odie all the way back already?"

"He got on the subway, I figured he knew what he was doing," Paul shrugged. "I asked him if he wanted a ride home but he declined, I just hope home isn't the poisonous sort of place I see it as for him or any of your father's other children."

"You're not the only one," Percy said.

"Shit," Paul cursed sniffing the air, and it was a rare thing indeed for Paul to curse. "Sally's making stuffed bellpeppers," He loosened his tie. "Wish me luck kids; I'm going to talk to a woman with the strength of an ox wielding a very sharp kitchen knife."

"Good luck," They all said as he walked into the dragon's den, otherwise known as the kitchen.

"You're Mom's a firecracker Perce," Rachel laughed. "I really do kind of dig it,"

"You've got this weird older person complex," Nico said.

"Oh please, you see them as parents but to me they're just other people," She smiled. "Anyway I'm no homewrecker, besides there was a guy on campus I could totally get into."

"I think it would be the other way around," Percy smiled and Rachel's eyebrow rose.

"You might think that Percy, but there are ways of getting around that little stipulation," She smiled. "Anyway, you're right; in this case it would be the other way around. He was super cute,"

"Oh, did this super cute guy have a name?" Nico asked.

"Ethan," She smiled. "Ethan Nakamura,"

"Nakamura? He's Japanese?" Percy asked.

"I guess, I didn't ask," Rachel shrugged. "Either way he was _so_ cute, he's tall and he's got dark hair and these eyes," She smiled. "Anyway, I got his number."

"Damn woman you work fast," Percy laughed.

"Yeah, I wish I had your gumption, I would have had Percy years ago," Nico laughed. Then the sound of ground beef hitting the pan filled the air.

"Oh she started the ground beef," Percy sighed. "You guys have got to stay for dinner; I can't do this by myself tonight,"

"Well I really don't have a choice," Nico shrugged.

"Yeah…Dad's wife doesn't really cook so I guess I'll stay too," Rachel smiled.

"God, I bet she battering the meat in wine," Percy sat on the couch.

"Hey, at least she's productive when she's upset," Rachel laughed. "You'll always get fed." Percy nodded but he put his head in his hands. "On the bright side we learned that your Dad is single handedly populating North East America."

"Probably more than that," Nico laughed. Percy just groaned.

"My Dad's a whore," He sighed. "Now I can see the importance of condoms,"

"Well, it's better that you learned it now then later on down the road when you and Nico have a baby on the way," Rachel laughed. "Believe me you two are too young to be thinking about kids."

"Gee, Rach, you're hilarious," Percy said sitting back, and the girl couldn't even be perturbed by the hated name because of how red Nico was. "Oh, geez. Nico, babe, you can't have kids, you don't have the equipment to carry a baby."

"Doesn't mean I might not want one down the road." Nico said biting his lip.

"Let's-let's not talk about kids right now," Percy said looking nervous. "So my Dad's a whore…how about that?" Rachel laughed again as did Nico.

"Okay, well we should go see how your Mom is doing then," Nico said and he kissed Percy's cheek. "If it makes you feel any better I don't think you're a whore."

"Of course I'm a whore, I'm having sex, like, all the time," Percy laughed. "I'm so promiscuous."

"There's a difference," Rachel said clapping them on the shoulders. "Whores have sex with all kinds of people, you Percy you're…whipped." She smiled.

"Whipped?" Percy asked.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that if Nico said jump you'd ask how high." She smirked. "But that's okay, because you love him."

"This is true," Percy smiled and wrapped his arms around Nico.

"Jump," Nico said with a smile.

"How high?" Percy asked and they laughed as they went into the kitchen. The sight before them wasn't nearly as horrifying as they thought it would be—well, it wasn't all that pleasant for Percy. Hoisted up on the kitchen counter was Sally with one leg wrapped around Paul's waist, they were both still clothed and buckled and buttoned but they were still embracing deeply. Sally had a glass of wine in her right hand and Paul was the first to notice the kids come into the kitchen. "Wait to go solider," Percy said. "Looks like a most difficult battle." The older man smiled and cleared his throat.

"Uh, guys, we were just…cooking."

"Yeah, I'm sure," Percy laughed.

"I'll say you were cooking," Rachel smirked.

"Mom the meat's burning," Percy continued and quickly Nico grabbed the spatula and turned the ground beef in the pan. "Anyway, we'll get out of your hair now…you kids go back to doing what you were doing." Paul laughed and Sally smiled.

"Sorry, baby." She said and pushed her husband away. "You know how I get when I see little reminders that your father's an ass," Then she stepped down on the ground. "But Odysseus didn't like such a bad kid,"

"Yeah, I liked him," Percy said and Sally went back to her cooking.

"Anyway, dinner'll be ready soon,"

Rachel smiled, "I'm sure it will," Then they left the kitchen again to wait for dinner. When everything was said and done it wasn't so horrible, in fact Sally was completely sober for the entire affair. Apparently she only blitzed if Percy was being stupid and acting like his father, not if other children of her ex-husband came nosing around. That seemed to be completely different in all of its entirety. Rachel stayed an hour or so after dinner and then let them all know she really should have been going, she had some calls to make and some good-byes to give. When things settled down Percy turned to his mother who had her legs over Paul's lap and a book in her hands.

"You're sure your okay, Mom?" Percy asked.

"I'll be fine dear," She said. "I'm a big girl, and I'm very much over your father, he just knows how to crawl under my skin better than anyone." She sighed. "Anyway sweetie, I'm sure you and Nico don't want to be sitting here talking to us, plus I want some alone time with Paul."

"Really don't need to know that, Mom." Percy laughed.

"And yet you're still out here, go, go, you're not the only one who gets to make-out with their favorite boy." Sally continued and Percy just laughed harder grabbing Nico by the hand and pulling him away.

"They're just giving us permission to have sex now," Nico said once they were inside the room. "I mean most kids would kill for this,"

"No talkey, off with the clothes," Percy said shirking out of his tee-shirt.

"Slow it down, tiger, I was thinking maybe we could do a little foreplay or something first," Nico laughed. "As eager as I am I like to be wined and dined every now and then." Percy smirked and let his shirt settle back over his chest.

"Fine, fine," Percy laughed. "Let me get the notebook,"


	21. Chapter 21

"Finally." Percy said closing the door behind his parents. Sally and Paul had been helping them move in all day and now the bare room looked a lot cozier. With the beds pushed together and moved under the windows now and the desks against the opposite walls there was a lot more room in the middle for things like a pullout couch and a small refrigerator that Sally had stocked with drinks and snacks and on the television stand was Percy's very own forty-two flat inch plasma screen. It was comfortable in the small room now and it felt like it, it almost felt like their own little home. Nico was looking around the place and feelings of joy were welling up inside of him. He and Percy had a home, they might have only been together for three and a half months but they had been best friends for nearly eight years and they had practically been living together before their relationship had blossomed so he knew they could handle this, besides if they got sick of each other they could always go crash on Rachel's free bed considering she had a private dorm. Two warm arms circled around Nico's waist and he tried not to let out a shriek of surprise, but he did and then he was laughing as Percy's lips were tickling his neck. "These walls are pretty thick, I think you can scream as much as you want and no one'll hear you."

"Ooh," Nico shivered. "Was that supposed to be sexy or to be a threat?"

"That depends," Percy said in a low growl. "Which did you want it to be?" Nico smiled and turned around, pulling Percy's lips down onto his, again he shivered at the fire, the electricity and vaguely he hoped to himself he would never lose the feeling he got when their mouths connected.

"What do you say we christen our new sheets?" Nico's lips curled upward when Percy's teeth were grazing against neck. True to his word Percy found every last pleasure button on Nico's body and he simply had to look at Nico the right way for the boy to convulse, but now he was nibbling on the brunet boy's collarbone and Nico was putty in his hands. Percy carried him to the bed that was actually two pushed together and bound by a single bed frame with large queen sized sheets and a nice, new comforter. Pillows overflowed the front of the bed and were quickly thrown to the floor as Nico was pushed down into it. His hand flitted under Nico's shirt and Percy marveled at how warm the boy was, how warm Nico always was when he touched him. But he had to push the thought aside as Nico moaned his name. "Per-cy," He said in that way that Percy loved and the young man leaned forward stifling an animalistic growl as he ripped Nico's shirt over his head. The boy's wide brown eyes were surprised by Percy's sudden nature and the older teen straddling his hips bit his lip as he looked down on him. Nico's cheeks were flushed, he could never get used to Percy's observant stare on him, and the more athletic of the two ran his hand down the smaller boy's chest, tweaking his small brown nipples.

In all his years Nico had never particularly paid attention to his or anyone else's nipples. They just seemed to be there, there was absolutely no use for them outside of feeding children and it was a wonder why anyone had them, but an icy shock travelled through his chest directly to his groin at Percy's twisting and he found himself squeezing his eyes shut. "You like that?" Percy asked him.

Nico couldn't stop his voice from quivering and all he could breathe out was, "Yes," Very slowly in near a whisper again Percy twisted the perky dime sized nubs and again and again ice shot down to his crotch and his dick jumped just from the tweaking along. Percy chuckled and Nico found his eyes open staring at his boyfriend. "What?" He asked, his voice still only a whisper. "Don't make fun of me now Percy, not everybody can be as big as you." But the larger brunet only kissed him.

"I'm not making fun," Percy said. "And I think it's cute," Then before Nico could grow any angrier he shot his left hand down the boy's pants and who cried out, mewling like a newborn kitten. "Cute doesn't mean bad." Percy laughed between kisses. "I just like that you're so turned on just by me looking at you." Then Nico's face was burning red and Percy pushed their lips together again, and he took his hands from the boy's pants, instead unbuckling them. He stared down momentarily at the boy's erection as he worked his jeans off. Nico was sticking straight up in the air, saluting them both. "Excited?"

"I've told you not to stare at it." Nico blushed and Percy ran his finger up the length, noting the veins and the different folds and he smiled to himself as Nico shivered underneath him. " _Mi stai facendo impazzire_ ," Nico whispered and Percy laughed.

"Can't understand you babe."

"Driving…me...crazy…" Nico gasped as Percy continued to trace his fingers around the head of Nico's dick.

"Keep it in English for me this time, baby." Nico was nodding and Percy gripped him. "Want me to use my mouth?"

" _Si_ —yes!" Nico gasped and Percy chuckled again, kissing his way down Nico's chest, he wasn't surprised to see the boy's stomach moving up and down rapidly, Percy was trying not to let it go to his head how rock hard he made Nico, but it was difficult when the boy was continually praising the Lord in Heaven Above in not one, but two languages; so maybe Percy was feeling cocky about his sexual prowess, but Nico wasn't doing anything to dissuade him. He settled his mouth over the enthusiastic prick in front of him and Nico bucked into his throat, he felt the boy's entire body constrict from the effort of not climaxing but it was nearly lost as precum dribbled out of him and into Percy's mouth. Nico was sweet, in all honesty he tasted a bit like avocados and it made him slick as the older teen swallowed him down. Percy vibrated his throat, humming loudly and Nico's hand pushed his him down to the hilt of his hardness, and the more athletic teen grasped the boy's testicles, feeling them tighten in his hands it was all a matter of time now. "Fucking 'a' Percy!" Nico screamed and he shot his thick load hard down the older boy's throat and if Percy swallowed it down quickly he wasn't nearly as grossed out at the thought of the task, plus since it was Nico's he didn't mind the spunk so much. With another two bobs of his head and a swirl of his tongue into Nico's slit he let the boy go. Nico's length was half flaccid as soon as it hit his leg but Percy kissed it and suddenly it was jumping back to life.

"Turn over," Percy instructed and Nico did, the older teen loved the fine hairs growing over Nico's back, he had seen Hades shirtless and he was happy to know that Nico wouldn't be growing much more chest or back hair. Running a hand down Nico's back he grasped the two round globes staring him in the face. He smiled to himself thinking how good he had it and with a good slap Nico cried out again, it turned Percy on all the more. "My baby got back,"

"I wish you wouldn't ruin these moments," Nico said, giving Percy a dark look over his shoulder. Percy smiled and leaned forward kissing said shoulder, then nipping it between his teeth, he left a trail of several bites down the boy's back and Nico gripped the comforter between his teeth as he squeezed his eyes closed. Percy parted the boy's ass and licked the star shaped entrance, they had lube but ever since they had done this the first time Nico would beg him to be prepared like this if Percy so much as grabbed a bottle of it. The younger teen arched his back and Percy dug his tongue down into his young lover, causing him to moan. Percy continued his ministrations until Nico was grabbing him by the head. "Stop! Stop, I can't—please, I need you in me. I need you,"

Percy grinned and climbed up Nico's body. "What's my nickname?"

"No, not right now, let's not do that right now." Nico replied and his eyes were pleading, but Percy grinned even wider and pushed a finger into the boy's awaiting tightness. Nico cried out again and Percy leaned into his ear.

"What's my nickname?" He chuckled, gaining extreme pleasure out of Nico's flustered nature.

"Mr. Big," Nico answered groaning as another finger opened him.

"Where're the condoms?" But Percy saw that Nico wasn't going to be any help as his mouth hung open, a moan falling out of it. Then the older teen remembered he'd put them in the nightstand, reaching across with his other hand he opened them and pulled out a Trojan. Quickly he ripped it open and was thumbing it down his length making sure it was on securely and that no air was inside of it. He bit Nico's shoulder. "How much do you want it?"

"I want you badly, Percy. Please, please, just do it," Nico cried and Percy couldn't help but smiling as the boy was bucking onto the bed, humping his hips downward.

"How badly?" Percy asked, pushing his hardness against the saliva slick ring of muscles and his young boyfriend bucked his hips backward but Percy held him down and wouldn't let himself travel more than half an inch inward.

"Percy what the fuck do you want me to say?" Nico growled, his knuckles nearly white from his grip on the bedside.

"That I'm the best you'll ever have," Percy smirked in Nico's ear. "And that no one'll ever make you come the way I can." Nico grew red in the face but repeated the words and Percy pushed into him, they were both moaning out as he slid slowly down into Nico, who seemed overly enthusiastic to suck him in. Settling and planting his knees Percy grabbed Nico by the waist. "You want it fast or slow?" He asked grinding his hips down, and Nico loved Percy's confidence in bed but he hoped that the boy's ego was contained only to sex because if Nico wasn't in the mood to deal with it it might have been something to talk about, though at the moment, as always, he couldn't be assed to care.

"Fast!" Nico cried as Percy thrust forward.

"Say 'fuck me fast, Percy." He swiveled his hips and Nico knew he shouldn't have felt embarrassment, but his face was burning red. One of these days he was going to take control of the sex and he was going to be the one to make Percy cry out obscene things.

"F-fuck me fast, Percy," His face was as red as a beet but Percy pistoned into him and Nico became an undulating mass of babble. He cursed Percy's stamina as he felt another rush of climax washing over him. "Percy, I'm going to…" He cried out and Percy's hand snaked around his waist, grabbing hold of him helping him to finish.

"Do it for me, Nico," He smiled into the boy's ear, kissing his neck. "Don't hold back." Nico couldn't support himself anymore, his arms gave out and he fell forward, but Percy still had a hold about his waist and was still unforgivably pounding into him. Nico's head lolled and he came again and stars burst behind his eyes as Percy hit his prostate at the same time and like a mad man he screamed out Percy's name and his body shook as his load still leaked out him. Percy's fingers came forward and were pushed Nico's mouth and the boy tasted himself. "Lick it all off." Nico did as he was told sucking feverishly at Percy's lathered fingers and Percy pushed further into him down directly to the hilt.

By now Nico wanted Percy to come, he wanted to spend him like he, himself, had been twice already spent. Finding strength in his arms again he pushed himself up and in one swift movement he threw his left leg over his boyfriend's shoulder. Quickly Percy grabbed it and looked down at Nico with wide eyes but the boy wrenched his leg out of the hand and turned himself completely on his back then he gripped Percy hard between his thighs and pushed off the bed. Percy fell backwards with wide eyes and a yelp and landed at the head of the mattress staring Nico down.

"What're you do—"

"Did I say you could talk?" Nico asked trying to gain his bearings and make it seem like he knew what he was doing at the same time. He leaned forward and bit down on Percy's shoulder, drawing blood. Percy cried out and at the same time Nico pushed his hips down hard on Percy's girth, and the cry turned into a moan.

"Fuck Nico, what are you doing?" Percy asked and the boy grinned down at him, using his know-how to mask his facial expression to the best of his ability he kept from giving away the fact that in this new position the pleasure was nearly tenfold that it had been before, and before it had been nearly blinding. Now he was seeing spots of white as he continued to drive his hips downward.

"I still didn't say you could talk." Swirling his waist and clenching as tightly as he could Nico was pleased to see Percy's mouth fly open and his eyes screw shut. "Now," Nico said, trying and failing to bar his own pleasure, but he used it as a crux to continue on with his plan to get Percy to climax. "I want you to say _my_ name this time." Then the boy grabbed his boyfriend about the sides of his left pectoral and used his right arm to hold both of Percy's arms above his head and he arched his back moving his hips upward, sliding slowly back down.

" _Nico_ ," Percy whispered and the teen smiled.

"I can't hear you," Again he pushed himself up off of Percy's length and back down, stifling his own moan and staring down at the boy underneath Nico kissed the side of Percy's neck and Percy nearly screamed in his ear.

"God, Nico!" Then he couldn't hold Percy's hands down anymore with his own and Percy gripped him roughly about the waist pushing him all the way down Nico felt his boyfriend's throbbing member convulse and spew and just from the thought of it he came at the same time and they both fell into the ending of pleasure. Percy thrust upwards several more times riding out his climax and then he fell hard against the bed, brow sweating and eyes still half closed. Nico pulled him out and tried not to think about it as the condom was still inside of him as well, he grabbed it and pulled it out and thought how very strange it felt indeed slopping out of him. Tossing it to the refuse bin he settled in beside Percy and sighed a sigh of relief. "What _was_ that?" Percy finally asked him as the seconds turned to minutes and Nico smirked. "You were like a fucking animal."

"I just wanted you to feel like I always feel," Nico said and kissed Percy.

"You came on my chest," Percy replied and the younger teen shrugged.

"Take a shower then,"

"Nap first, shower later." Percy smiled which was offset by a large yawn, he gripped Nico closer to him. "You have to do that more often, I was seeing stars."

"I'll make a note of it then," Nico laughed and again they kissed. There was a knock on the door and the older teen cursed. He pulled on his pants and grabbed some tissue from the nightstand wiping his boyfriend's enthusiastic efforts away and throwing it into the wastebasket then he walked the eighteen feet to the door and looked out of the peephole. "Who is it?" Nico asked.

"Don't know," Percy replied. "Stay right there," Then he opened the door slightly and stuck his head out of it. "What's up?" He asked the guy on the other side of the portal. The guy was about his height with short cut ebon hair, he had a nice golden honey color to his skin and a clipboard in his hands. He was Asian, and vaguely Percy thought he had seen him before on campus when they had been walking around. Whoever he was he had a strong cut to his square jaw and his was smiling slightly, crinkling the edges of his warm brown eyes.

"Hey, my name's Ethan, I'm the RA of this floor," He said and Percy thought better against shaking his hand.

"Hey," Percy smiled. "I'm Percy, uh, I wouldn't if I were you," He laughed and Ethan nodded realization coming into his eyes. "Can I help you?" Percy had to give it to Ethan, he was a handsome guy. He was built like a wrestler, not those ones you see on television but the college varsity kind, he had large pectorals and was very clearly in shape, his biceps had to be at least twelve inches around. Then it clicked in Percy's mind why this guy was so familiar, he was the guy Rachel was crushing on, they had seen him when they were setting up her room and Percy had never seen her turn on the charm before but it was pretty clear Ethan liked her back from the way he had been smiling and blushing.

"Yeah…uh, not a lot of the other kids are here yet so, I mean it's cool, but when the semester starts could you guys keep your…activities down? These walls are pretty thick but loud noises go under the doors and they sort of echo in the hallways." Ethan said and Percy laughed.

"Hear that Nico?" He threw over his shoulder and Ethan got a look at the accomplice, Nico was blushing from head to foot as he was trying desperately to cover himself.

"Yeah." Nico said between his teeth, eyes narrowed at Percy, and then he turned his vision to the RA. "Sorry about that."

"Nah, man. Like I said it's cool for now, there are only like five us here for the time being, but you know it could get kind of awkward if you guys carried on like for two hours every day while everyone was trying to study."

"Can do," Percy smiled and gave a salute, Ethan laughed and he seemed like a good guy suddenly.

"Percy it says here you're undeclared." He observed. "You too, Mr. di Angelo, any idea what you might want to do? Anything you're into?"

"We're not sure yet," Percy shrugged and Nico echoed the statement.

"Ah, well you know you got four years or longer, it's no big deal." Then the young man gave Percy a once over. "You look pretty fit, you work out?"

"Yeah, I've been trying to get that one to go with me but he always finds some excuse," Percy smiled over his shoulder.

"Cool, maybe I'll see you in the gym sometime, and hey, I know you're friends with Rachel…um, anything I should know about her, you know from one guy to the next?" With that Percy laughed.

"If you want to hear that story you might want to wait till we're decent."

"That bad, huh? Shame, she's super cute," He said.

"No, no." Percy said. "Rachel's great, she's just a huge personality, I don't know if you could keep up with her." Then Ethan was smiling an attractive sort of grin and he crossed his muscular arms.

"Sounds like a challenge," He laughed. "I like challenges." Percy smirked.

"You just remember she's my best friend, okay? I'm all about pursuing the cause, but don't hurt her…" He let his threat sit in the air and the two of them sized the other up, both were in incredible physical shape, Percy was light and quick and Ethan had tons of power and they smirked to themselves thinking that it would be a good fight.

"Don't worry, bro. I'm not that kind of guy, if she lets me in I'll treat her right," Then they did a fist pound. "You guys keep it down in here, though. We do room checks every Thursday so try to make sure it's presentable and I won't have to write you up."

"Alright, see you around Ethan, we'll try to be dressed next time you come through," The smiling RA laughed.

"S'your room," He said. "But if you want me to hang around in there I'd say that would be your best bet." Then he opened the door to what must have been his own room because he had a key and he pushed into it. "Later."

"Later." Percy called.

"How do you do that?" Nico asked from the bed as Percy closed the door behind him.

"Do what?" Percy asked.

"Find quote/unquote "bros" everywhere we go?"

"Because, Nico, my love, everyone is secretly a bro. You're a bro, I'm a bro, Rachel's a bra, girls are called bras." He smiled and climbed in bed beside Nico. "It seems like we've been here for less than a day and we're already in trouble."

"A bad omen," Nico agreed. "Which means that we can only be loud in the shower because I'm pretty sure with the door closed its sound proof in there."

"Then I suggest we shower right now." Percy smirked and kissed his boyfriend.

"No, too sleepy. You grab a shower and go get us something to eat?" "The young man gave Percy a puppy dog eyed begging look and Percy nearly growled.

"I'm going to put you in a Catholic schoolgirl outfit and you have to make that face,"

"Now who's the fetishist?" Nico asked with a smile. "That was pretty specific Perce." The older teen shrugged.

"I can't help that I'm a young man in the sexual prime of his life, I have _needs_ Nico, and one of them is to bend you over my knees and—" Nico held a finger to Percy's lips.

"Shower, food, I'm sleepy and hungry." He laughed and Percy kissed his finger.

"Fine, fine." Then he leaned forward and captured the boy's lips. "What are you in the mood for?" Nico's eyes drifted over to the door.

"Japanese sounds really good right about now," He said with a devious grin on his face, Percy's expression darkened and the boy laughed at his boyfriend's jealous nature. "What? You get to go to strip clubs and I can't admire our local RA?"

"You're not allow to talk to him now," Percy said looking defiant.

"You're pouting," Nico chuckled and leaned up catching Percy's bottom lip between his teeth, he suckled on it for a moment and then kissed him. "I'm only kidding, you know you're the only one I want, Perce."

"I better be," Percy smiled and then got up.

"Seriously though, sweet and sour chicken with some fried rice would be amazing." Nico said sitting up. "God, who needs to work out when you burn off every calorie I'll ever have ever? I'm so sore."

"Sex is a good work out," Percy decided. "But I still want to do it with you in the shower of the gym." Nico rolled his eyes.

"You want to do it with me everywhere Percy, if they designed some sort of harness you'd want us to do it in suspended animation." Nico flicked Percy's nose. "I'm exhausted, which I blame on you, I had plenty of energy left over from the move to walk around campus for a bit but now I can hardly feel my legs."

"You know a lot of that you brought on yourself?" Percy smiled. "I'll bring you some food and then maybe you'll feel well enough to at least help me set the Xbox and the wireless up so we can have some internet in here."

"Woe is our generation for not being able to make it a day without a network connection," Nico said, swooning into the bed sheets and Percy laughed, running a hand up Nico's bare abdomen.

"Mm." He said with appreciation.

"Percy…" Nico replied and Percy climbed on top of him.

"Exactly how hungry are you?" He asked. "Can it wait another twenty minutes?"

"It can wait as long as you need it to," Nico smirked and Percy leaned down.

"Good," He said deviously.

* * *

There was a knock on the door and Rachel went to it, without looking out of the peephole she opened it expecting it to be Percy or Nico or both of them. "Ethan!" She said and nearly slammed it closed. God she was a mess, she had been painting and there were smudges of red and blue all over her face, her hair was pulled back into a tangled ponytail and she was in coveralls of all clothing.

"Hi…uh, is this not a good time?" Ethan asked noting her appearance and her look of trepidation. "I can come back." Rachel sighed and wiped her hands on her coveralls then opened the door wider to her place.

"It's as good a time as any I guess, I was just doing some painting," She said. "Come on in," He nodded and came into the small dorm. "What brings you by?" She asked wishing she could primp and preen without look overly girly. "God, I'm sorry about how I look."

"What? It's cute," Ethan smirked and Rachel thought it was the kind of smirk that could get just about any girl into bed. "What kinds of things do you paint?"

"Oh, not just painting you know, I do drawings and sketches and all that artsy-fartsy stuff." Rachel shrugged and walked over to where she had a tarp laid down with her easel standing on top of it. "It's not completely finished yet but I was doing sort of a portrait of my friends and me, I was going to mail it to my friend Annabeth in California when it dries cause she always liked my paintings," Rachel told him and Ethan looked at the portrait. It was a picture of the girl, and Percy and Nico, two girls he didn't know a tall guy who looked like he could have either been Black or some kind of Spanish. It was life like, really life like, and he could just see the joy in all their eyes. They were on a beach and everyone was smiling widely at the camera.

"It's really good," Ethan said looking at it. "You're sure this isn't just a picture blown up?" He smiled and Rachel found color on her cheeks.

"Thank you," She said and suddenly she _desperately_ wished for a mirror. If she made the excuse to go to the bathroom then she seemed too desperate to clean up, and that ruined the whole illusion.

"You've known Percy and Nico for a long time then?" He asked.

"Yeah, since about Junior High, we went to High School together too, they just got together at the end of our senior year." She replied.

"They're…enthusiastic." Ethan said and Rachel's eyes widened.

"Oh, God. You didn't walk in on them doing it did you? You gotta knock with those two Ethan, or irreparable damage will fall onto your pretty brown eyes." She smiled and it was Ethan's turn to blush.

"You're the one with the pretty eyes," He said. "They're so green," Rachel shrugged.

"I get them from my mom."

"She must be gorgeous," Ethan continued.

"She was, she died a while back," Rachel said and suddenly the boy looked like he had committed the world's biggest faux pas.

"Oh, God! I'm so sorry, Rachel I didn't know." He exclaimed and she smirked putting a hand on his arm.

"It's okay, you're right, you didn't know. Besides, I'm over it. I was little when she went so I don't remember her that well, but I do remember she was beautiful." Rachel smiled to herself.

"Like you," Ethan said and touched her cheek. Rachel blushed but waved his hand away.

"Whoa, buddy. You might be able to flex and flash that millionaire's grin at just about any other girl and they might be Frenching you right now, but not me." She said and Ethan pulled his hand back.

"Darn, you're one of those girls I have to work for then?" He asked with a smile.

"Yup. You think you can handle that?" Rachel replied and Ethan just smiled wider.

"Like I told your friend Percy, I like challenges,"

"So you asked Percy about me?" Rachel wondered and they walked to the door.

"I might have arbitrarily asked for a few nuggets of advice for approaching you," Ethan laughed. "Apparently there is no right way to approach you though, apparently you're this huge thing that can't be properly approached without me looking foolish."

"Percy said all that?" Rachel asked.

"Not in so many words, but I figured it's what he meant." Ethan smirked.

"You might be surprised," The girl said and he stepped out of her room. "If you stop by around here again say Wednesday at about seven and we go out for a walk around campus then we go to dinner you might be able to persuade me to come back down to earth."

"Here's to hoping, I've been told I'm a great persuasive speaker," Rachel laughed then.

"For me you're going to have to be better than great," With a smirk she closed the door but the illusion she thought she might have created was lost when she looked up and saw her reflection in the mirror on the wall. "Shit." She whispered as somehow she had wiped the paint across her nose. Sometimes it just seemed like she was being punished from up above for something she didn't even do. She sighed and decided she would finish her picture later, for now all she wanted was a hot bath, and perhaps to "accidentally" run into Ethan again on campus in a cute skirt and her favorite Converse, because she was the kind of girl who could pull of sneakers and a skirt, and pull it off well.


	22. Chapter 22

"What're you doing baby?" Juniper asked, the brilliant orange Florida sun was making its way into Grover's small dorm. The girl stretched as she was lying in bed and had just woken up and she pulled the covers back off of her, smiling when her boyfriend gave her an appraising look, she was wearing his tee-shirt and really nothing else. It said: Professional Gamer, across the chest but she liked it regardless because it was big and hugged her comfortably while she slept. Juniper was happy with her schedule, Chemistry, Calculus, Introduction to Physics, American History, Composition 0800, and Government and Economics. She was happy with her boyfriend, even if he had just been sitting there staring at her and she was smiling to herself with his response.

"Just watching you sleep," Grover said moving a piece of dark hair out of her eyes. "You're beautiful, did you know that?" She laughed and kissed him, touching his bare chest with her hand. The thing with Grover was that all anyone ever saw was a tall, lanky kid with patchy facial hair as he could grow it under his chin and under his nose but it didn't grow in on the sides (and against her wishes he grew it out anyway.) But Juniper saw a man most handsome, and he was what with his mischievous grin and his chestnut colored eyes and skin. She gripped his warm flesh and the whiskers of his face tickled hers. He pushed her back into the bed and she chuckled again.

"You're up early," She said, double entendre not lost. Juniper had her own dorm room, yes, but she wanted to spend some time with her boyfriend before classes officially started. She had taken the initiative and had met most of her professors and she was still trying to convince Grover to do the same but he refused and she shrugged. It was his life.

"Have I ever told you how much I like doing it in the morning?" He asked climbing on top of her and she ran her hands through his thick, coarse hair. He pressed his fevered lips against her own and she sunk into the bed as his hands groped her under his shirt. She moaned because his fingers were strong and sure and her breasts were sensitive to his touch and with enough pressure to drive a girl crazy he cupped another handful of her ample bosom, whispering warmly in her ear. "Good morning," He said and a part of her was amused by that.

"Good morning," She half moaned and half chuckled, his fingers were trailing down her soft, slim abdomen now.

"You look so ready," He continued to whisper and she brought her knees up on the bed as touched her moistening vulva, parting the lips there and running a digit along her lining. She shivered and raised her hips. Grover could just touch her so deeply, and she bit back a cry. Slowly he slipped a finger into her as she opened for him like a morning rose, unfolding. Another finger pressed into her and she wrapped her arms around Grover's neck as his other arm came around and continued to fondle her breasts.

"I love you," Juniper whispered in his ear and this time she did cry out as he picked up tempo with his fingers.

"I love you too, Juniper," He said kissing her lips again, soon his touch left her though and he was searching through his nightstand for a condom. "Damn, I thought we had more." Grover said and he sat back on the bed.

"We'll buy more later," Juniper said sitting up and he shook his head.

"Hold on," He said and got up, opening his door he trekked across the suite to his roommates room. He knocked, Juniper rolled her eyes because she could hear the transaction. "Hey, Will, man," Grover said as soon as the door was opened. A straight haired blond young man of eighteen stood in the open portal blinking sleep out of his eyes. He was a Florida native, Will Solace was, and his sun-tanned skin was testament to that.

"Yeah, dude?" He asked yawning. Will looked like your typical sufer, a long, slim but muscular torso, honey-wheat hair sweeping his neck and a crooked sort of smile on his lips. "It's like eight in the morning," He continued.

"Yeah, I know," Grover said. "Sorry about that, you got any condoms, man?" Will shrugged lackadaisically and turned back into his mess of a room.

"Hold on, let me look," He said and went over to his dresser, Grover couldn't see a ballerina being able to navigate the mountains of clothes and debris laying about the young man's floor but Will seemed like a veteran at it as he made his way into catastrophe. He came back with two prophylactics between his index and middle finger. "That'll be four dollars," He said with a sideways grin.

"Four dollars? That's highway robbery!" Grover exclaimed.

"Hey man rubbers don't come free, I'll happily shell 'em out for a few bucks," Will smiled. "What if I find my own little bunny and bring her back but I don't have any jimmies to get the job done with?" Grover rolled his eyes but couldn't help smiling.

"Can I owe you?" He asked, "my wallets in my room,"

"Just a hop, skip, and a jump, dude," Will replied and Grover grumbled under his breath as he turned back to his own door, he trekked the few feet back into his room and gave Juniper an apologetic look.

"Just…hold on a little longer baby," He said and she crossed her arms over her chest.

"I'm about to get dressed," Juniper announced and Grover went over to her, he kissed her deeply and pushed her into the sheets.

"Just a little longer," He said. "Okay?" Slowly Juniper nodded and her boyfriend smiled. He grabbed his wallet off the nightstand grabbing four dollars out of it. Four dollars for two condoms, damn it. Sighing he made his way back to Will's room and handed him the money. "Here," He said and took the two prophylactics.

"Pleasure doing business, dude," Will smiled and Grover rolled his eyes.

"Wish I could say the same," He said with a grin of his own and then clapped the boy on the arm. "Thanks, man."

"Yeah, no problem. Now don't wake me up again unless the swell is tasty, okay bro?" Grover gave him an uncomprehending stare. "Unless the waves are gnarly, dude." Still Grover appeared not to understand. "Remind me to swing you by the beach later, bro; we seriously got to get you some verbage."

"Yeah, I look forward to it," Grover laughed. "Now if you'll excuse me,"

"Don't keep that bunny waiting," Will smiled and then closed his door and Grover made his way back into his room for the last time.

"Sorry," He said. "Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry."

"I'm not going to lie, the mood's a bit dead," Juniper laughed as Grover looked forlorn. "I tried to tell you we could get them later. You didn't think I meant that we were still going to do it if you didn't, did you?" For a minute it almost looked as if Grover were going to say yes, then he shook his head. "Good, you know better than that," She said and kissed his cheek.

"What a waste of four bucks," Grover grumbled.

"You're just a bit overzealous sometimes, sweetie," The girl smiled.

"Did I ever tell you how much I enjoy morning sex?" Grover asked her. "And how much it turns me on when you use big words?"

She laughed again, "I think I've heard you say it once or twice," Then she got out of bed. "Doesn't mean it'll work. Come on, we'll use our newly acquired morning time to get around to seeing if any of your teachers are on campus." Then she chuckled again as her boyfriend groaned.

"I told you I'll meet them when classes start." He pouted.

"Fine," She said. "You can take me out for breakfast and a mocha frappe then," She said with a smile as he kissed her.

"I still love you, even if you won't do it with me right now," Grover said kissing her back. "But I draw the line at mocha frappe, I don't see how you guys drink all this coffee, it's disgusting." Juniper shrugged and stood shimming her undergarment up her legs and then her pants as well.

"I'll get you into it eventually," She smiled and pulled the shirt over her head. "Where's my bra?"

"Why would I help you find that, the view is fine from where I'm sitting," Grover smiled and sat back against the wall watching her. Rolling her eyes she found it under a pillow and quickly clasped it.

"What am I going to do with you?" She asked touching his cheek.

"I can think of a few things," Grover smiled and again Juniper rolled her eyes.

* * *

It was raining. Probably the last Summer rain of the year and Jason was standing in Brooklyn, looking at an apartment complex that he knew all too well. He didn't have an umbrella; he didn't even have a jacket, but he couldn't even feel the rain. Jason's mind was racing a million miles a minute, first some guy comes to him offering him paid tuition for the next four years at the same university that his sister was attending, the kid even had documents and binding contracts stating that he and his father wouldn't back out of the arrangement. All Jason had to do was strike up conversation with some kid named Nico, get to know him and be his friend. It didn't seem _that_ strange to him, maybe Nico had trouble making friends, maybe…maybe…he didn't know. His head was a mess. He'd been struggling with his feelings and emotions for the last four years, then this short, doe-eyed curly haired, pointy eared kid shows up out of nowhere and he smiles at Jason _one_ time during lunch and the boy's heart clenched. After that it had been set in stone, and there was no falling out of what he had landed in. Either you wade in love or you drown in it, but no one is safe from getting at least a little wet. Wet. He smiled to himself because he was soaked, metaphorically and physically. Soaked to the bone and his heart hurt; it had been wrong to just kiss Leo like that, wrong to push him against the wall and basically tongue-fuck his throat but Jason hadn't been thinking he had been feeling, and God above it felt wonderful. Leo's lips tasted as sweet as he had thought they might, but that could have been attested to the fact that the boy had been chewing gum. That, of course, was neither here nor there though, the problem was he had kissed Leo and then confessed his undying love to him. If he was going to do it at all he should have done it the other way around, gauged Leo's reaction and then if it seemed okay he could have went for the kiss.

Fuck. Fuck everything.

Jason closed his eyes because the hot tears on his cheeks felt out of place in the cold rain and he turned around because he shouldn't have been standing outside of Leo's apartment complex staring up at the window he knew to be the boy's, he should have just left because he had already agreed to going with Thalia back to school and with the amount of money they had offered him he would have to ask his Mom for anything, not for food or clothes or anything. He could always ask his Dad; that is if he Dad had ever been around but his Pop was an entrepreneur, he ran big businesses all over the world. In layman's terms it meant that his Dad was going around leaving floozies loving him in every city from Brooklyn to Okinawa.

Jason took a step to get away, it was a significant step. It not only signified him leaving his home behind, leaving Leo behind, but leaving his old life behind as well. He'd joined so many teams to feel like a part of something, captain of this or that, first place in every event, but it never filled up one hole. One gaping black abyss that resided in his heart and again he felt that muscle clench as the image of Leo flitted into his mind and he thought that that was the one thing that could fill him, biting his tongue he nearly took that step but it faltered.

"Jason?" It was Esperanza Valdez, Leo's mother. The woman smiled a striking sort of smile, her face smudged with grease and her hair, though pulled into a strict ponytail, was dark and lustrous as she was a young woman of thirty-seven though her age could not rightly be determined. There were no wrinkles lining her face, no hints of worry lines or frown lines, if anything she had a small trace from where she smiled one time too many but other than that she was beautiful. She was as Latin as could be, and she was proud of her heritage. Esperanza Valdez was a strong woman who owned a garage a couple blocks from her apartment, it didn't get a lot of customers but it did well enough to support herself and her son. She was still in her jean coveralls and her Timberland boots but there were bags of groceries in her hands. Jason stared at her in open appreciation of her beauty, it was where Leo got his looks from because Lord knew his father was an ugly son of a bitch, but Esperanza had loved him more fiercely than any "beautiful" couple might love their mate. Jason marked her lips, large and kissable like her son's, and her eyes that were so soft and brown. "Get under this umbrella, _loco_." She said good naturedly and Jason took a bag of groceries from one of her hands and an umbrella from the other. He would never know how she had been carrying it all as there were three other bags in her arms. "Leo's up in his room, last time I checked, he's been feeling pretty down for some reason but he won't tell me why, do you know what's up? You two have a fight?" She dug her keys out from between her cleavage, a place that looked most uncomfortable for keys to go but still.

"Yeah," Jason said glumly and it never occurred to him that he didn't get to take his step. "It's my fault, I'm an idiot." Esperanza's eyes cut across at him and she glared standing to her full height, a whopping five-four.

"I don't want to hear you talking like that, Jason, do you hear me?" She asked and Jason smiled absently because she was speaking much too quickly like she did when she was annoyed. Then the smile dropped from his face, Leo did the same thing.

"Yes, ma'am," The taller blond boy nodded and he followed behind her as they climbed up the stairs, the Valdez's lived on the third floor of the building so it was an arduous climb. Esperanza was the kind of woman who deserved his respect, he couldn't have done what she did and with a smile on her face, starting her own shop, raising a family, losing a husband and not breaking stride. She was so strong.

"Leo, _mijo volvi y Jason aquí también_ , okay baby?" She called as soon as the door was open, Jason didn't speak Spanish but he knew enough to know she had announced their arrival. "Leo?" She called again.

" _Dile que vuelva por donde mismo vino porque no quiero ver a ese jodio pendejo_ ," Came Leo's voice from the back.

"What did he say?" Jason asked looking at the woman, but she was scowling.

"Watch your language!" Esperanza yelled. "Get your ass out here right now, Leo, I want to know what's going on, _y traes una toalla_. Take off your shirt, honey, I'll find you something dry to put on."

"What! Um, no, that's okay Mrs. Valdez,"

She held her hand out, "Your shirt, Jason, I'll go put it in the dryer," Quickly Jason was out of his shirt and handing it to the protesting shorter woman. "And I've told you a thousand times, call me Esperanza. Now what's the problem here?" Leo came out of his room with a towel in hand and his cheeks tinged red seeing Jason standing there in the foyer shirtless.

"Here," He griped and threw the towel at Jason's head.

"Leo _qué diablos te pasa hoy?_ " What the hell is wrong with you? Esperanza asked.

Leo gave her a sardonic smile, "Ma, _estás seguro que quieres saber_?" You really want to know? He asked her and crossed his arms. " _Ma, me beso. Ese moron me beso_."

"He kissed you?" The older woman looked between Jason and then back to her son and there was a tinge to her cheek as well. "You…?"

"Yes, ma'am," Jason said, his eyes hitting the floor.

"Well did you like it?" Esperanza asked her son and Leo became positively red in the ears.

"That doesn't matter, I'm really upset with him right now. He needs to just leave." Leo said staring Jason down hard. "So get out."

"Not without something dry to wear, his mother's not calling over here for us to pay his hospital bills if he gets pneumonia, you've got some sweats that are too big for you go get them for him."

"But Mama!" Leo said unbelievingly.

" _Ningún pero_ ," The way the woman said it the statement didn't seem to broker any argument, so muttering to himself in Spanglish Leo went traipsing back to his room. Esperanza looked over at Jason. "You kissed him, Jason? I mean, I had no idea you felt anything for him…like that."

Again Jason nodded slowly, "Yes…ma'am," He said and his felt his skin goose-pimpling, the cold was seeping into him now and he began drying his hair. Esperanza's hand shot out and she grabbed Jason by the shoulder, her fingers were strong upon his arm and the next thing he knew she was hugging him to her. Though it was a bit strange because she was barely tall enough to see him at chest level, awkwardly he let her hug him tightly and he could feel the years of working on cars had built up a sort of strength that should have been unimaginable in her skinny arms. "Um…Mrs. Valdez?" She let him go and stepped back, punching him in the arm.

"Esperanza," She said. "If we were close I'd tell you to call me Rainy like my brother used to but you can't even remember not to call me missus." Then her eyes flitted to the ground. "I don't care, you know? If you're a flamer," She smiled absently and punched Jason in the shoulder. "But you should have asked Leo, you know he has boundary issues, and abandonment issues…"

"Yeah, I'm crazy," Leo glared at his mother and then threw Jason a pair of sweats that were too big for him and he had even been kind enough to grab a shirt. "When your clothes are dry you need to leave, I'm still pissed at you."

"Leo," Jason said, but he shivered and Esperanza grabbed him by the arm.

"Go change," She said softly and the blond boy nodded. When he was inside of the bathroom he stripped his wet jeans and underwear off and threw them in the sink then he slid the sweatpants on, they cuffed at the bottom of his calf not even reaching his ankles. Next he pulled the shirt on, it showed the very bottom of his midriff but otherwise was long enough to pass as a presentable. Jason slunk down the wall and pulled his knees up to his chest, sitting against the door. He shouldn't have agreed to leave, now it was going to be so much harder to go because he had come here. He hadn't been expecting to get caught, damn it, and if Esperanza wouldn't have been flashing that famous Valdez grin, that honest and full-toothed smile he might have been able to get away from her. Placing his head between his legs Jason felt the need to scream. He felt the need to beat his head against the wall till he just couldn't feel the need to do anything else. What had he come here for? Why was he here? Leo didn't want to see him, and that was his only true reason for ever being on this side of town.

Fuck. He was messed up, what's worse was that even seeing Leo angry he just wanted to grab him close and tell him they could make it work, that everything would be alright. He cursed under his breath.

"Jason," There was a knock on the door and Jason's heart nearly stopped. "I know you're hunkered down against the door." He didn't move. Didn't breath. "Look, Jason, I wanted to say I was—I mean, shit, dude, I'm sorry, okay? I overreacted."

"I kissed you," Jason whispered, and if he lied to himself he would say the door was thin that he could feel Leo's hand on his back.

"I know," Leo said. "I overreacted, you did something that was totally hard for you and I accused you of being fake. I'm sorry." Jason didn't stand, he went to his knees and he opened the door. Leo was leaning with his back against it and the boy fell on top of him, they tumbled to the floor.

"Sorry," Jason immediately apologized but the boy on top of him didn't make any motion to move. "Leo?"

"I liked it, okay?" He said staring down into Jason's icy blue eyes, his ears aflame with blush. "I liked it when you kissed me and when you held me, but I got scared. I panicked, you know?" But Jason didn't know and he told him so. "Jason," Leo finally got off of him and sat across from him Indian-style. "Everyone in my life leaves me eventually, my uncle, my Dad, mom's the only one I got left, you were the only friend I made in high school. The only one. Didn't you see that? No one else wanted to hang with me, everyone assumed just because of my skin color I was lazy, or I'd steal from them or something and here you come along on this big white horse one day and you save me from getting beat up by that _pinché gringo_ Vance Laughlin, and I was afraid you were going to see that I really liked you." Leo sighed and his already small frame seemed to deflate. "Then you kissed me," He said and he looked up, his eyes were red. "You kissed me and at first I thought that all my years of being alone were finally coming to an end, but then I thought that you were messing with me." He smiled here, a half hearted smile that let Jason know how very difficult this was for him. "And then I was hoping you were messing with me because if what you did was real then that just put you next in line to be the one who left me."

"Leo…" Jason said and it felt like he had been doused in ice cold water again, Leo grabbed his hand.

"But you're not going to leave me, are you Jason?" The boy asked and his eyes were so honest, he was leaning forward again and Jason could just smell him, he smelled like Axe body spray, but it nice and subtle on his skin. They were inches away from kissing, Jason's lips trembled with regret.

"Leo," He said. "I decided I was going to school," Immediately Jason wished he had not said it, Leo looked crestfallen. "Someone came and offered me tuition and room and board, and I thought you weren't going to talk to me anymore so I accepted because I was hurting so bad, and I'm really stupid and make rash decisions when I'm in pain. I'm sorry, Leo. I'm sorry, please don't be mad at me again, I don't want to go now that I know you're okay with what happened between us," He grabbed Leo's hand again. "more than okay with it, I mean." Tears were welling in Leo's eyes, his irises were moving back and forth and he was nearly pleading.

"I should have known," He said, voice low and shaking. "It was too good to be true," He stood up.

"Leo!" Jason stood with him, pulling the protesting boy against his chest. "Leo I'm going to school in state, I can still come see you and you can come see me. I got a private room, you can stay with me for a few days when you're off of work from the garage, and then maybe next semester when I have some money you can start going too?"

"Me?" Leo asked, his voice still shaking and barely above a whisper, he looked up at Jason with his doe eyes and an unbelieving expression. "I fucked up in high school, Jace, what makes you think I can do any better in college?"

"Because college is about you, not the state. They don't have some educational quota to fill, Leo, you can work hard, get your degree in automotives and help your Mom out, and you and me, I mean nothing has to happen so fast, but we could…I don't know, give it a shot, right? Truth be told I didn't…have relations with every girl in the school, Dominic Patterson started that rumour in eleventh grade and I don't know it took off on its own. I didn't even really have any relationships, I did do it once…to see if I was…you know?" Leo nodded, but he didn't know, he was a virgin himself. "I am, but I still did it. It wasn't really very good for either of us. I kept holding her head down by laying my arm on her hair, and she'd jerk this way and shout ow and she would, like, try to get me into it by…just-just believe that it was bad, okay? All five minutes of it, I didn't even…finish we just sort stopped." He sighed. "I'm telling you this because I want you to know that I'm not going anywhere, alright? I've really liked you since I saw you in freshman year and you still had your braces," He touched the side of Leo's mouth and could feel the retainer there that he wore only when he was at home, Leo smiled a ginger smile.

"I-I'd like it if we tried at least," He said. "worst comes to worst we can go back to being friends." Jason nodded and agreed.

"Friends," He said with a smile of his own.

"Can we—I mean, we already did, but I kind of ran away in the middle of it. Can we try kissing again?" Jason nodded and Leo turned his back to him, when he turned around his mouth was empty of said retainer and he sat it on the sink. "Okay, I think I'm ready." The shorter boy's eyes fluttered closed and Jason was leaning forward, before either one of them knew it they were bumping foreheads. "Ow!" Leo said with a laugh.

"I think we both have to have our eyes open for the first part of the kiss, then we close them going in for it." Jason said and Leo nodded his agreement. This time they did, angling heads slightly their lips connected in open mouthed awe and after a few seconds of gingerly testing the waters they let instinct take over. Both of them were inexperienced kissers so they weren't aware exactly how bad the kiss might have been to someone of a higher caliber, but with someone of his own rank both boys found it quite enjoyable. Jason was the first to pull back and Leo went forward, then his eyes popped open.

"Sorry," He said with a small smile.

"No, it's cool," Jason chuckled and then snuck another peck in. "I could get used to it." After their second and then third time around they got the hang of it and soon Leo was snaking his arms over Jason's shoulders, pulling him down hard enough to split their lips. Finally the need for air became too great as neither knew to breathe through the nose.

"Does this make us—are we boyfriends or what? That sounds weird." Leo said.

"I think we're two guys entering into a relationship together, people can call us what they want," Jason smiled. "You can call me your boyfriend, or you can call me your best friend who you just so happen to let kiss you, or whatever, it doesn't matter to me."

"What will you call me?" The shorter boy asked.

"I'll probably call you Leo," The taller teen smiled mischievously and it was met with a laugh. Then Leo grabbed Jason by the hand and led him back into the living room.

"Mommy," He said.

"No," Esperanza replied not looking away from the television. "You only call me 'mommy' when you want something, _mijo_ I just bought groceries and you have your own money from working in the shop this week." Jason smirked at that.

"Mrs.—" He stopped when her acidic glare landed on him. "Mommy." He said quickly with a laugh and she noted their entwined hands.

"Well," She said. "If my _papi_ was alive to see this he would throw a fit, I bet that old apuesto que ese viejo cabron is rolling in his grave. Serves him right for beating my mother," Then Esperanza blinked. "Sorry, old demons." She said with an apologetic smile. "You two are happy, yes?"

"We will be," Leo said.

"Then I'm happy," She said. "Don't expect me to cook nothing, I'm tired, I've been on my feet all day." She gave a wide, playful smile and they laughed. "Are you boys hungry though, I might be persuaded into making something?"

"No, uh, I think we're just going to go chill in Leo's room," Jason said and he couldn't mask the blush on his cheek.

"You're too white to be telling lies that make you blush, Jason," Esperanza smirked. "Least when, _Flaco_ here does it all that gets red on him is his ears." As if she had talked a blush up Leo's ears reddened. "See what I mean?" She laughed. "Get out of my hair before I throw you both out on the street."

"Yes, ma'am," Jason said.

"And put your pants in the dryer, you look like you're wearing capris," Esperanza laughed and Jason agreed again quickly going back to the bathroom, depositing his pants and boxers in with his shirt and then returning to Leo's room. He closed the door behind him and Leo blushed from his bed.

"We're just watching TV for now," He said.

"Alright," Jason replied and climbed in bed beside him, tentatively pulling him into his lap he was surprised when Leo so obediently sat against him. The feeling of the boy in his arms warmed him up more than all the blankets they had pulled around them and Jason wrapped his arms around Leo's skinny waist. He was starting school in less than a week, how he had managed to get a relationship going with that little tidbit was beyond him, but he was very pleased about it.


	23. Chapter 23

Okay, so college officially rocked. Not only were there restaurants on campus but Percy had classes he actually liked. Maybe Mythology wasn't one of them, but he'd already had the class with Mr. D. so it wasn't so bad, this class was just a bit more advanced. Another thing that Percy liked about college: the work was online. Never again would he have to keep up with all the papers that teachers handed him, the few they had he made an effort to put in his notebooks along with actual notes, which he was taking! He was surprised himself, but the structure of the classrooms was such that the professors talked and gave the information then they sent you on your way. In high school it had seemed like the teachers would not even make the effort to teach, ' _open your books to this page and do the work outlined for you_ ' barely ever giving any information; at least that's how he felt about it. Class was over; Mythology was his last class of the day for Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Putting his things away there was a high feminine throat clearing behind him, "Excuse me," Percy turned and the most startling pair of blue eyes he had ever seen met his own. He blinked, the next thing he noticed were smiling plump pink lips and hay straight wheat colored blond hair, the girl was gorgeous with her heart shaped face and her high cheek bones. She stood to about his chest and she was like a breath of cool air in an otherwise stuffy room. Percy blinked again. "Hi," She said.

"Hi," Percy smiled goofily.

"Sorry to ask this, but I was late to class, I only caught the end of the lecture, do you think I can borrow your notes?" The girl had a nearly pink tinge to her cheeks and she was wearing a sleeveless white blouse that showed her milky, crème colored arms and a pair of cargo short shorts revealing mostly leg and thigh. Her feet were tucked into a comfortable looking pair of flip-flops and she flipped her heavily highlighted blond hair over her shoulder.

"Oh, uh, yeah sure," Percy said swallowing a hard lump in his throat. He fished his notes out of his backpack and handed them to her. She smiled and hid a chuckle behind her hand.

"Come to The Atrium with me and I'll copy them and give them back to you," She extended her arm. "I'm Calypso by the way, but everyone calls me Callie,"

"Perseus," Percy said with a small smile, taking her hand and shaking it. "But everyone calls me Percy," This time the girl laughed and it was like the tinkling of bells, melodic and beautiful. They left the lecture hall, Percy shouldering his backpack and Callie with her tote bag. On the way they made small talk, how funny it was that Professor Woods, the Mythology professor, had a small, bleached mustache on her upper lip.

"Poor thing," Callie said with a smile. "I want to take her and get it waxed, but I don't know if she even realizes it's there,"

"Oh I think she does," Percy laughed. "She was scratching at it enough,"

The Atrium turned out to be a small cluster of fastfood vendors with benches all along the ground seated in front of tables, and of course there were hundreds of trees growing around. They took a seat, Calypso sitting across from him and she pulled out her own notebook. Percy couldn't help but thinking that she reminded him vaguely of Annabeth, maybe it was in the smile or the shape of her eyes, but somehow he could relate the two. It was hard not to stare, she really was incredibly pretty as she quickly scribbled down his notes and he smiled because she smiled when she looked up at him and for a moment they were just smiling at each other. Then she cleared her throat, "So, uh, what year are you?" She asked.

"Freshman," Percy replied. "You?"

"Sophomore," She said still smiling. "I'm a Mass Communications major,"

"Cool, I'm undeclared right now," He shrugged. "My stepdad thought it'd be nice for me to go to school though, and I couldn't argue with that fact, I didn't have any other plans for life, so why not continue school and get a good job doing something I like?"

"What kind of stuff are you into? Maybe I can help you decide on a major,"

"Uh, I don't know, I really like sports," Percy shrugged. "I mean school was always just something I did because I had to, I never really thought about careers and stuff."

"Well," Callie smiled. "Have you tried out for any of the teams here? Or at least thought about trying out for them?"

"I didn't," Percy admitted. "But that's a really good idea, I'll have to go find some coaches around here,"

"Glad I could help," Callie laughed and handed him his notebook back; their hands touched and a small blush touched her cheeks, Percy thought it looked nice on her fair skin. "Look, this is a little forward, but would you like to, I don't know, go get dinner with me sometime or something? Truth-be-told I could have gotten these notes online because Professor Woods posts them up there, but when I came in the classroom everyone was already packing up and I saw you. I think you're kind of cute,"

Percy felt a flicker of excitement, but he quelled it, then he had to pause, opening his mouth and closing it again he finally said, "Oh, wow, um, Callie that's really cool but I'm kind of seeing someone."

"Oh," The girl said. "'Course you are, sorry about that, I don't know what I was thinking, a guy like you would be snatched up by the first girl with eyes." Percy laughed.

"Thanks," Percy shrugged. "I mean I would have totally been cool with that, you know getting dinner, because you're really—" He stopped himself, complimenting her wouldn't have been the thing to do here. He had to get his thoughts together, she was a very distracting sort of girl. "It doesn't matter. But I'm flattered," He gave her a smile.

"We'll be friends then," Callie said, touching his hand. "And study partners, I hate Mythology, but it's supposed to be an easy 'A' and I need all the credits I can get."

"Me too," Percy replied. "You want to grab a bite to eat while we're here?"

"I was hoping you'd say that," She smiled and they stood. "You know your girlfriend is very lucky, you seem like a good guy."

"Ah, no, not girlfriend," Percy said, color touching his cheeks. "Nico wouldn't like it if you called him my girlfriend."

"Boyfriend?" She asked and he nodded. "Cripes, I was barking up the wrong tree from the beginning."

"Well, not really," He continued as they walked to a Chic-Fil-A vendor. "Nico's the first guy I've ever gone out with, I'm still—I mean, I think you're cute."

"Thanks," Callie rolled her eyes. "Save me some face I guess,"

"No, I'm not just saying that," Percy shook his head.

"Well then thanks again," She laughed. "Do you have a picture of this Nico? I kind of want to see him now that I think about it, what's he like?" It was in her smile, that's what reminded Percy of Annabeth. When she smiled they looked really very similar.

"Hold on," Percy pulled his phone out and showed her the main screen, a sleeping Nico took up its entirety, he smiled absently when he saw it. "He's great, he's smart and funny, and he's a really good cook if I can ever get him in the kitchen and keep him in there long enough to look around. He just gets me, you know?" The girl took the phone and looked at the sleeping face of the boy

"God he looks like he's in tenth grade," She laughed. "How old is he?"

"Seventeen," Percy said, cheeks flushed.

"You're a cradle robber," She replied, continuing to laugh.

"What? No! I'm seventeen too, well, I'll be eighteen next month," They stood in line now, the aromas of different sorts of food rallying around them and they reminded Percy how hungry he truly was. Then he smiled to himself because Nico would have said that he was always hungry.

"Shit, then I would have been a cradle robber," She said with a chuckle then she clicked a few buttons on the phone. "Got anymore pictures?" Quickly Percy pulled the device out of her hands.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," He laughed. "Lots of embarrassing pictures of him on here he doesn't know exist."

"I can handle embarrassing," The girl said.

"By embarrassing I mean…naked." They moved forward in line and her face took on an amused quality.

"Percy, you're bad." She said, laughter in her voice. "I'm guessing he would be pissed if he found out about them?"

"More than," Percy smiled. "But he does this thing where he sort of loses himself and doesn't know what's going on when we're—" Again Percy stopped himself. "I don't even know why I'm telling you this, we just met."

Callie smiled, "Because we're friends now, Percy," She touched his arm. "How long have you guys been together?"

"Almost four months now," Percy said.

"Four months? That's a pretty long time, I guess, you guys serious?"

"Pretty serious, I don't want to jinx it but I think he's going to be the one for me,"

"God, and you're only seventeen. I wish I would have been so lucky," She laughed.

"How old are you?" Percy asked.

"I'll be twenty in a few months," She replied. "It's easy to forget the age differences around this place, I've been going here for about three years now, but I've only just declared my major so that set me back a little bit graduation wise, but I don't mind it."

"Mass Communications, what is that?"

"Well, I'd really like to get into being a news reporter," Callie told him. "Everyone said Journalism was the way to go," She shrugged. "Be the next Katie Couric,"

"Sounds like fun," Percy laughed. "You like being behind the camera?"

"Well, not that, I just kind of want to travel and see exciting places, I've felt trapped for centuries in this place, you know? I want to go to Abbey Road and Buckingham Palace; I wanna to see the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids of Giza, it just took me a long time to decide what the best path for doing that would be." She shrugged. "I don't want to bore you about it though,"

"No, not at all," Percy said. "You seem passionate about it,"

"I am, I'll do whatever I have to," She smiled. "Oh, we're next," They ordered their food and made their way back over to the tables. "God, I've got to hurry, I've got World History in like fifteen minutes and it's on the other side of campus."

"Oh, shit, sorry, I shouldn't be holding you up like this," Percy said.

"Nah, you're not holding me up," She smiled. "I can be a few minutes late, plus I haven't eaten yet today."

"Oh, well then alright," Percy smiled. "So you really think I'm cute?" Calypso rolled her eyes.

"You're not one of those vain guys that needs me to keep telling him that are you?"

Percy laughed, "No, I'm not."

"Good," She said. "Because I wouldn't've said it more than once,"

* * *

"We're clear then?"

"Yeah, I guess," Jason said, arms folded. "This kind of seems a little sleazy, this Nico kid doesn't know you hired a friend for him?"

"No," Triton said. "He doesn't, and he doesn't need to, it shouldn't be hard for someone like you to make friends with him though."

"Someone like me?" Jason asked.

"Don't worry about it," Triton replied. "Look, I've got another person on this campus to see in about ten minutes, do you have any questions?"

"Yeah," Jason said. "What did you ask Thalia to do? She's been giving me this really angry look ever since I agreed to this." It was true, Thalia kept sighing every time Jason walked into a room she was in and rolling her eyes, his sister wasn't the warmest person around but she never purposefully did things like that.

"She didn't agree to it so it doesn't matter anymore," Triton shrugged. "Your job is just to be nice to him, get to know him, he's…dating my brother, don't let Percy know you know me either."

"Wait, he's dating your brother?" Jason asked. "You're not, like, jealous of them are you?"

Suddenly Triton's face was red with anger, "No I'm not!" He shouted, then he took a breath and the color flooded out of him he sighed and took a breath. "There are things going on that you wouldn't understand, okay? We're paying for your school, paying for your room and board, just do what you were hired to do, I don't care what else you do on campus, just make sure you hang out with Nico."

"Yeah, I said I got it," Jason said. "I still think this is a bit shady,"

"Only if you make it that way," Triton replied and pushed off the wall. They were outside on campus. "Hope you're happy with your schedule and your room, now I've got to go." Jason sighed and wondered what he had gotten himself into because he suddenly felt guilty. But he pushed his guilt aside, he had to call Leo. He couldn't really say things were going great between them, they had only been together for a couple of days but…things were going great between them. A spark like he had never seen before ignited in the middle of their friendship and now it was all whirlwind kisses and fingers seeking flesh, of course Leo wasn't always up for kissing, in fact he seemed fine with just sitting and being held and Jason knew there was something inside of the boy, something incredibly breakable and he had to handle him with care. But it was so nice, Leo was warm and he always spoke his mind and Jason could hardly think of taking things any faster.

He made his way back to the dorm; it never occurred to him how lucky he was to be on the first floor he hadn't needed to carry his things up any flights of stairs. He stood at his door and fumbled with his keys.

"There he is," A voice was saying, he looked up and saw the RA Ethan Nakamura pointing in his direction.

"Thanks," His sister was standing opposite the muscular young man who shrugged. She was walking forward and Jason fumbled faster, finding the key to his door, he shoved it into the keyhole and turned the knob. "Just where the hell do you think you're going?" She asked and grabbed the handle, effectively keeping him out of his room.

"Thals, I'm pretty tired…" Jason said trying and failing to push past his sister to get into the room. "We can do this some other time."

"No," She said. "We can't," She opened Jason's door and walked into his dorm, the young man sighed and walked in behind her.

"Thals—"

"Don't you 'Thals' me, what do you think you're doing being here like this?" She asked turning around. Jason opened his mouth and she held up a hand. "Jason that guy wanted me to sleep with some kid, he offered to pay off my loans to the school if I did."

"He wanted you to _sleep_ with Nico?" Jason asked.

"Yeah," Thalia said. "That's why I turned him down, God you are so stupid, I was trying to tell you but you wouldn't listen."

"But—but he didn't ask me to do that, he just said I had to be friendly," Jason said. "I wouldn't have agreed to _sleep_ with the kid, I don't know him." Thalia sighed and ran a hand through her midnight hair streaked with that one shot of lightning.

"I don't want you getting in any kind of trouble here, Jason. You make sure not to sign anything else alright? You can't keep doing impulsive things, you're eighteen now, you know what that means?" Again she didn't let him finish. "It means you can seriously go to jail if you get caught up in something that you're not ready for, I don't trust this Triton guy."

"I don't think I do either," Jason said. "He gives me this vibe like he doesn't like me."

"I don't like you very much either right now," Thalia said falling onto Jason's bed. "I didn't even know you wanted to come here, I could have helped you get grants and scholarships, I could have helped you get in. I don't even know how he swung you getting in at the last minute."

"I wasn't thinking!" Jason said. "My head was a mess and I don't know!"

Again Thalia sighed, and she moved more hair out of her eyes. "You're here now," She said. "Just, don't do anymore stupid stuff, okay? No more stupid stuff."

"No more stupid stuff, I got it," Jason replied.

"How are things with you and Leo? Does he know how you got here?"

"Well, not completely, I told him most of it but this is weird, I can't believe Triton asked you to sleep with the kid, from what I understand he doesn't even swing that way. Girls, you know?"

"Apparently neither do you," Thalia replied with a smile. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because…" Jason stopped. "I don't know, I thought it was something I was going to get over, but I never did, and it wasn't like I could just come out at school, everyone was counting on me to win games and stuff." He shrugged. "It wasn't on my top priorities list."

Thalia patted down beside her and Jason took a seat, she leaned her head against him, "Next semester we're getting you out of that contract, okay? Do not spend any of the money they give you if it's in check form, if they pay you under the table then there's no legal recourse."

"Not really thinking about money right now, Thals," Jason laughed dryly.

"I'd like to meet this Poseidon bastard, who the hell does he think he is just going around hiring people to be slutty?"

"I'm not going to be slutty," Jason said and Thalia flicked the side of his ear like she was accustomed to doing when he annoyed her, hell she was accustomed to assaulting Jason just about any way she could image when he annoyed her, which was often, she didn't care that he had about eighty pounds of muscle and two feet on her.

"I wasn't talking about you, stupid. What? Just because I'm a girl I'm supposed to just throw my boobs wherever the first guy who offers to pay me a lot of zeros tells me to? Hello? I've got way more self-respect than that. You, on the other hand, get in the fight with the first guy you fall for and jump into legal binding contracts with whoever comes toting them around. You're the system's bitch."

"I am the system's bitch, aren't I?" he asked and she laughed.

"We'll get you out of it somehow, I've got a friend doing her paralegal study here, I'll have her look over those documents over, if I have to I'll call Dad." She gave him a hard look. "You do still have them don't you?"

"Yeah, I do," He stood up and went to his deck and pulled them out. "I think I still want to meet this Nico guy and find out what's really going on." Thalia took the papers and thumbed through them for a moment.

"If you do stick to what you're already supposed to do, don't tell them about Triton, we don't know what's going on," She said. "Be careful, I will break people's heads for you, Jason, you point me in the right direction and I'll reign down a storm of chaos of so powerful they'll have to call in the S.W.A.T. team to right what destruction I've wrought."

"Calm it down there sis," Jason laughed.

"Sorry, Lit class gets me riled up," Thalia smirked, then she gave her brother a small side hug. "When are you going to bring Leo up here? He was the only one of your little friends I actually liked."

"Well he'll be busy with his Mom for the next few weeks so he won't be able to come spend the night, but I might be able to have lunch with him up here every now and then. I can make it down there to his house though."

"You really like him, huh?" Thalia asked.

"I do," Jason said.

"Poor kid," His sister said with a smile. "I mean Leo, not you." Jason laughed.

"Yeah, poor him." Jason agreed.

* * *

"Triton," The boy looked up and smiled when he saw her. "Sorry I'm late,"

"Only by about five minutes, and I'm not so sure you're sorry." He said. "Did you do it?"

"I made contact, yes." She agreed. "I couldn't get him to outwardly come on to me, but I think he's interested." Triton stared the blonde girl over appreciatively.

"He'd be a fool not to," Triton replied and grabbed her about the waist, tasting her lips. "You're a very good actress, Callie, I'm sure,"

She remained quiet while his lips ghosted over neck. "I'll do whatever I need to to stay in school," She finally said and then she grabbed him about the crotch. "Anything." Triton laughed and kissed her again, pushing her against the wall and her breath hitched from the hungry glint in the young man's eyes. "I'll give you boys one thing," She said. "You're both incredibly attractive," Triton smiled and ran a hand up her exposed thigh, then he cupped a handful of her buttocks.

"I could say the same about you," He whispered sensuously, his hot breath raising goose flesh.

"You know I don't like doing this to him?" Calypso seethed.

"But you don't have the money to keep your classes," Triton replied. "besides you think it's be a plus to get into his pants." The girl wasn't one taken to real blushing, instead she shrugged.

"You were right, he looks like you," She said and Triton's hands snaked under her blouse. "If he's anything like you in bed then I won't mind so much,"

"He practically a virgin," Triton laughed. "All he's ever done is that kid,"

"I could teach him then," Pushing the girl up against the wall she wrapped her legs around his waist. "I wonder if he's as gifted as you,"

"You want to keep talking about Percy or do you want me to fuck you into the wall?" She moaned as his bit her neck again. "And you look like such a nice girl,"

"I am a nice girl," She replied. "A girl gets around and they call her a slut, you get around and you're a just a playboy."

"I don't think you're a slut," Triton smiled. "I think you know what you're doing, you're experienced."

"Shut up and take your pants off, Tony," The girl commanded and he stepped back letting her down, quickly they were both without trousers and she was on his waist again. "God," She ground her hips down, both disgusted and aroused at her need for him.

"No, you had it right before, it's Tony," Triton laughed.

"I hate you," She glared and then moaned again.

"I'm not a fan of yours either," He replied. "But your body is to-fucking-die for," He gripped her tightly about the waist. Then the brother and the false friend had frenzied, passionate sex made all the sweeter by their mutual dislike for one another; there were no misconceived notions about it. Both of them were good at what they did, and together they were explosive but Calypso could hardly stand Triton's cocky nature, or the fact that at times he would lord her misfortune that she had lost her scholarship because her grades had slipped over her; Triton on the other hand didn't like her the girl's snootiness, ever since he had disclosed his father's need to terminate the relationship between Percy and Nico she had given him this look like she was better than him, and he fucking hated it. But, their bodies were so compatible. It felt good in the sickening way that sneaking around felt good, there was a certain and distinct pleasure while in the act, but afterwards there was nothing pleasurable about the experience, and yet they couldn't stop. Triton didn't have the qualms and after emotions that Calypso did, but it was enjoyable for him to see her face go from euphoric to disgusted all in a matter of minutes. They were cordial before the act and didn't speak again until it was necessary to set up another date, so far she had only been scoping Percy out around campus and like the plan today was the first day she had made herself known to him.

It was an even more horrible feeling when she finally did meet him, his smile had been warm and friendly and he had been generally flustered about her beauty. He _was_ a good guy and she should have stopped the ruse before it escalated to something horrible, but she really needed the money. That's what she had to tell herself, she really needed the money. She couldn't let an opportunity, no matter what it was, slip through her fingers to stay where she was. Loans could only get her so far and the guy currently thrusting inside of her had shown up one day out of the blue striking up a deal she could hardly refuse. Seduce some guy away from his boyfriend? It was easy, she could be seductive, she could be anything she needed to be to do what needed to be done. _I need the money_ , she said to herself as she grunted and wrapped her arms around Triton's warm, muscular back. At least he was handsome, at least he knew how to make things pleasurable for her as well; but that didn't stop the feeling of unwanted disgust in her stomach. _I need the money_ , she said again in her mind and it became like a mantra. She couldn't be a horrible person, horrible people did things like this for the sick pleasure. But she knew what she was doing, she knew and she was going to keep doing it until it was done and she pushed that thought aside as she felt her climax coming on. She cursed and locked her legs around Triton who drove into her impossibly deeper.

She hated it, but she loved it. They had been doing this since Percy had moved in, it wasn't supposed to happen but Triton was charming when he wanted to be, he had a silver tongue an could talk a dragon out of its scales if he wanted to. Disgust settled in her stomach when the passion wore off, now all there was was a sweating, pivoting boy inside of her and she felt hollow. She felt used and she felt the need to vomit. Triton finished, pulling out and in silence he let her down the wall. Without any other words but, "I'll contact you," He pulled up his pants, buckled them and was out of the door. She wiped her brow and then her eyes as tears came unbidden. She would do anything to get what she wanted, and she wanted the money. Quickly she got into the scalding shower, but she could still feel him moving around inside of her and she hated how titillated it made her, he unlocked a secret euphoria inside of her she thought never before reachable and he left her wanting more. But she didn't want it at the same time.

Slumping down to her knees she cried in the shower and tried to tell herself that this didn't make her a whore. That she wasn't a slut, but she was providing someone with a service for monetary gain, and more often than not it was of a sexual nature. Calypso barely contained the contents of the lunch she had had with Percy, there was a reason she hadn't been eating, if she didn't eat she didn't have anything to throw up. The girl stayed under the water till it ran ice cold, and she stayed under it five minutes still before she stood mechanically, washed herself, rinsed off and turned the water off. She felt her stomach lurch and she stumbled to the sink letting loose a pink and green vile smelling liquid that held chunks of unchewed food. The smell of it had her upchucking again and then she ran the faucet and washed it all away; brushing her teeth she got the taste of it out of her mouth. She looked in the mirror, she still looked like the same Callie Rosenthal, but she didn't feel like her. Wrapping her hair in a towel she dressed and resigned herself to studying, there was nothing else to do until she was needed again.


	24. Chapter 24

Two months passed and Percy and Nico fell into the routine that was college, Nico had scheduled mostly morning classes so his day was free while Percy was never one to wake up incredibly early so his classes started around noon but they were both off before the very late evening and night times were spent either cuddled up together studying, gaming, or Skyping Grover, Juniper and Annabeth. The latter of the three had made it official between her and Luke Castellan and every now and again he would sit in and talk with them via live feed. Aside from keeping up with their best friends Percy and Nico had made quite a few new ones as well, it was hard to go anywhere on campus without a friendly wave or a nod here and there. All in all life had become a happy enough thing and they were loving every second spent together. Hades and Persephone had come over the very day they had gotten back from touring Europe, it had been not just a honeymoon but a sort of way to circulate Hades' book internationally. It had gone over pretty well and would soon be translated into several other languages.

It was probably when he had seen a few kids around the school actually _reading_ his father's book that Nico realized exactly what that meant; he had been shielded from interviews and television appearances but apparently people the world over were in love with his father's perspective and narrative voice. It was odd, Nico always knew his Dad would be successful but it was sort of surreal to actually see that prophecy come to fruition. He had picked up a copy of the book and read it, the thing chilled him to his very core. It was dark and fantastic, there were at parts so much gory detailing in the death of some characters and the way their bodies looked splayed upon the cold ground with certain muscles and tendons ripped from them that Nico couldn't help but wonder at some of the things his father had seen in the mortuaries. The book was being called a turn of the century thriller, something not seen in a very long time that would both frighten and intrigue you to no end and Nico had praised his father on it, but the tall man simply shrugged and asked if the boy wanted to go out to eat to celebrate their getting into college. He didn't seem the least bit thrilled about his new celebrity, he told Nico that he wasn't writing for fame, he was writing because he had stories he wanted to tell and if people liked them then he was all the better for it. Nico laughed at that, it was exactly the way he pictured his Dad taking fame, now there were people calling the house asking for movie rights and Hades just sighed, he wanted to see scripts written before he just gave his first book away to be transformed into something completely different. Persephone was ecstatic, when she and Hades had first started dating she had no idea he was a writer, then not long after he proposed he showed her the first draft of his manuscript and told her he wasn't sure if he should keep writing it. She encouraged him to finish it so he dedicated the completion of it to her, it was all very sweet.

But, the best thing about his father and Persephone being back home and Nico being away in school was that when he came home on the weekends, sometimes with Percy and sometimes without, he could wash clothes and stock up on proper homemade meals. Because they had jumped into school on such short notice Nico had no idea their dorm wasn't nearly as furnished as some of the other ones. Some dorm rooms came with small kitchenettes and next year Nico was going to make sure he and Percy got into one of those. This time around he'd come back home with Percy, it was supposed to be a long weekend so they had till Tuesday before classes started again. Percy was in the shower, Nico refused to take one with him considering that his father and Persephone were both in the living room besides the fact that he had to dry his clothes soon so they could go visit Paul and Sally.

"Dad, that was Steven Spielberg, come on! You have to do it," Nico said as Persephone got off the phone.

"I don't know," Hades shrugged.

"Who else could do your book justice Dad?" Nico asked.

"Christopher Nolan called earlier today the Wakoski brothers called before that," Persephone informed him and Hades rolled his eyes.

"Tim Fucking Burton called yesterday, I think I'll just put their names in a hat and draw one,"

"Dad!" Nico exclaimed. "Do you know how many people would kill to have any of those names calling and asking about turning their books into movies?"

"It wasn't written to be a movie, Nicky," Hades said flipping the channel on the television. "I mean my publisher said something to the effect that people _might_ want to make a movie out of it, and I was excited about it then but now it's just an arduous task, makes me not want to show my publisher this next one I'm working on."

"Dad!" Nico said again and then he looked up to see Percy exiting the shower. "Percy, come here, tell my Dad he's being crazy."

"Yeah Nico…I just got your Dad to kind of like me, I agree with whatever he says." Percy said toweling his hair dry.

"Steven Spielberg and Christopher Nolan called, they want to turn his book into a movie," Nico said.

"That's awesome! Dark Knight is like my favorite movie, and Jaws won like a lot of awards or something." Percy smiled. "You should do it, Mr. di Angelo,"

"Jackson I don't want to do it," Percy blinked and then his cheeks tinged pink.

"Oh, uh, yeah…" He paused. "Oh, I think I hear my phone…" Quickly he dashed to Nico room and the younger teen sitting beside the brooding older man was laughing.

"See Dad, even Percy thinks it's a good idea,"

"This is the same kid who plays baseball without a helmet, Nico," Hades said unamused.

"Persephone, talk some sense into your husband there's nothing I can do for him." Nico said standing up, and the next moment the sound of the washer turning off filled the air as one long, continuous beep alerted them to its completion. "That would be me," He announced and walked into the kitchen where he opened a door that led to the washer and dryer. He switched out his wet clothes into the dryer and then set it for an hour, when he closed it he felt his pocket vibrating and pulled out his cell phone. He smiled absently, it was one of his new friends Jason texting him. ' _Hey, what's up Neeks_?' It read.

_Nothing, just throwing some clothes in the dryer hanging out with the family. What about you, you ever get to visit Leo_? Nico replied. Leo was the name of the boy Jason was dating, he had met him once, he was a nice kid…not a kid they were the same age…and the same height, but still he somehow felt younger to Nico, probably because Leo just seemed to be in a constant state of awe when Jason was around and Nico thought they were pretty perfect for each other. Percy and Jason got along pretty well, but like Percy was with Ethan they were really competitive. Jason, Percy, and Ethan were always at the gym in their free time where they would run sprints against each other, lift weights together, and generally pal around. Nico was glad Percy had someone to turn his need to work-out with on, but he also thought Jason was a pretty cool guy, even if his sister didn't seem to like the young Italian very much. All she ever did was just stare at him and Nico didn't like it very much, but he wasn't going to cross her, she seemed rather well versed in the art of offense, both verbal and physical. She was scary, and coming from Nico that meant a lot. Of course there were the girl Percy was hanging out with as well, _Callie_. Nico didn't like the way she stared at Percy but he couldn't dislike her too much, Percy had taken a shine to her and Nico couldn't tell him who he could and couldn't be friends with. Well, he could but he didn't want to exercise that power because it wasn't right. He was pretty hard pressed to find Rachel anymore, the girl threw herself into her school work with reckless abandon coming up only when he and Ethan went to knock on her door. Thankfully she, too, was taking a break this weekend but he figured he would let her catch up on her sleep instead of bothering her. His phone vibrated again and Nico leaned against the dryer as it began its cycle.

' _Yeah, we're at my house right now actually, he kicked me out of the room so he could change into his pajamas, he didn't used to be so body conscious_.' Pajamas? It was midday.

' _You guys are getting ready for bed already? lol Maybe he's just shy now that you two are an item, I still hate it when Percy stares at me like that_ ," Well, he didn't hate it but it made him feel self-conscious.

' _Oop. Sorry, not pajamas, shorts. He got warm,_ ' The message said then another one came through. ' _LOL Not like I haven't seen it all before, we're both guys I know how it works down there, but maybe_.'

' _Probably_ ,' Nico replied. ' _You just gotta respect his need for space, man._ '

"There you are," Percy said standing in the doorway. "Who're you texting?"

"Jason, I'm making sure he doesn't bust his door down to see Leo changing," Nico said absently and Percy came over to him pushing him against the dryer.

"Hey, if he wants to see Leo in the buff he should just tell him," Percy smirked. "It works for me."

"Yes, but Leo isn't so ready to jump in bed just yet, Perce," Nico laughed. "Besides, I was the one who made the first move between us."

"Doesn't count, I was sleeping." Percy kissed the side of his neck. "Which reminds me, you owe me one for that."

"What did you have in mind?" Nico asked and his phone vibrated but he left it in his pocket, temporarily distracted.

"I'm pretty sure this dryer could support both of us," Percy smiled and closed the door the washroom. "Get on it," Nodding Nico hoisted himself up on the dryer and Percy pushed his torso against the wall while the younger teens knees bumped along with the dry cycle. Then the taller teens hand came around and set the machine back to a full hour as there had only been forty-five minutes left on it.

"I want to see where this goes," Nico smiled and Percy sat beside him, pulling the boy into his lap. "Oh, I see." He smirked as the more almond brunet unzipped his pants for him.

"You _are_ smart," Percy grinned, the dryer made things interesting, any movements were turned erratic by the machine's throwing them this way and that and both young men found themselves finishing rather quickly because of the aid. Nico held firm to Percy's shoulder, his legs wrapped around the boy's back.

"God you keep getting better," The younger boy said, his head against Percy's neck and he kissed the sweating skin there.

"That's what I wanted to hear," Percy smirked. "Your dryer is done, by the way."

"What?" Nico asked then he blinked. "Oh, yeah." Slowly he climbed off of Percy's lap and pulled his pants back up, his boyfriend following his example and doing the same. Then they put the dry clothes into Nico's hamper and left the washroom, Percy with his arm around Nico's waist.

"What? You kids decide you want to watch the clothes dry?" Hades asked dryly.

"Something like that, Dad," Nico laughed.

"Jackson I thought you said you wanted to stay on my good side…" Percy blushed.

"Sorry, sir,"

"Don't apologize to him," Nico said with a small grin. "All we did was watch the clothes dry."

"Will you boys be staying for dinner?" Persephone asked and Nico looked at Hades who shook his head 'no.'

"Uh, I don't think we will," Nico said smiling at his Dad. "We should be getting over to Sally's house anyway." Persephone nodded.

"I should go see her sometime soon, she can help me with the thank you cards your father and I have been neglecting to send out." The woman thought settling in next to Hades. "Oh, we stayed with your grandparents for a few days while we were out there, they think you should come see them sometime soon."

"They realize they're all the way in Italy?" Nico asked with a chuckle.

"I'll pay for the ticket if you want to go," Hades replied.

"You know I'll only go if I can take Percy," Nico said and Hades rolled his eyes.

"I figured it was a packaged deal, look, Jackson," The tall man turned to stare Percy in the eyes. "Would you be up for going to my parent's house in Sicily?"

"I—uh, yeah, I guess," Percy shrugged.

"There we go," Nico smiled. "We'll visit them during Fall Break."

"Uh, uh, uh," Hades said. "Rules, one: no sex. I don't need you scarring your grandmother."

"Okay," Nico said.

"Rule two: _no sex_."

"Dad, I think we can control ourselves," Nico said.

"I don't," Hades said. "But I guess I can trust you if you realize that your grandmother and your grandfather are very old, yes, and my Father isn't as accepting as I am about this sort of thing,"

"He seemed fine with it at the wedding,"

"That's because he loves you, Nicky, but I don't want you giving the old man a heart attack, he's survived two wars so seeing you butt naked pushed up against a wall by an awkward sweaty Percy Jackson might tilt him over the edge into the next life."

"Hey! There's nothing awkward about me," Percy said, miffed.

"Well even still, I'd really prefer if my father didn't find out," Hades shrugged. "Nico you should come visit again before you leave," Which was his father's way of saying he wanted to spend a little more time with him, Nico smiled and clapped his Dad on the shoulder as he passed by him.

"Can do, sir," Nico smiled.

"Good, now both of you get out of here while I go disinfect my laundry room," They laughed and quickly said good-bye to Persephone and her husband then they were climbing into Percy's Sonata and he was driving back to his house. Nico figured the only reason they stayed at Percy's so much was because Paul and Sally let them do as they pleased and only joked about it, Hades was very much set on them not ever actually touching when he was home. The drive between houses was so familiar now Nico was sure they could have done it sleeping and all too soon they were pulling up into Percy's driveway. There was a car outside, a powder blue convertible Porsche two-seater and Percy laughed seeing it.

"Alexander is here," He said observing the sport's car. Nico had never actually met Sally's design partner but he'd heard war stories. Alexander Keaton was what some in the fashion industry called 'fierce' but Percy just called him funny looking.

"Should I be worried?" Nico asked and Percy put an arm around the boy's waist.

"No, no, I' m sure he'll be tame today," They made their way into the house and before Percy could announce their presence Nico's eyes were assaulted by the worst culmination of colors since God, Himself, decided what not to add to the rainbow, and that's just what Alexander Keaton was wearing. Nico was staring at a man easily in his late fifties, though he was still slim, nearly fit, his hair was coifed to silver-gray perfection and his jaw was clearly defined and pointed. But, as nearly handsome as he was he was still shamelessly wearing something that looked like a toucan had rejected it; it was an airy blouse like shirt embroidered with bright, bright feathers and his skinny legs were painted into skin tight leather pants. Alexander Keaton was an unnatural bronze, almost orange, color and his bright green eyes contrasted terribly.

"Perseus!" The skinny man lisped and Nico almost cringed from the frequency. "Oh, look at you, are you eighteen yet?"

"Alex…" Sally said walking into the foyer, Alexander had a large glass of red wine in his hands.

"What? I'm only asking, he's filled out nicely, it's a compliments Sally," Then his eyes shifted down to who Percy was holding. "Do my eyes deceive me? A young man?" Alexander sauntered forward quickly and inspected Nico from head to foot. "You're bite-sized and delicious looking!" He looked over his shoulder. "Sally! Sally, look at this,"

"I've seen him, Alex," Sally said. "Now can we get back to the Spring collection? Are capris in or out?"

"Capris out, gauchos in," Alexander rolled his eyes dramatically. "That should be obvious, no one looks good in capris, young Alyssa Milano wouldn't look good in capris, Sally. Focus!" He turned back to Nico. "This is what we're looking for, look at him, this hair, these eyes, this button mug!" He grabbed Nico by the face and the young man scowled. "Oh my stars and banners, he's adorable."

"What are you talking about?" Nico asked.

"I'm looking for a young model, Sally refuses to let me use Percy but when he's eighteen he'll be able to decide on his own, I've been trying to get him into my clothes for the past four years." Alexander told him expressively. "But you, you're adorable and so dark, I want you for my Fall/Winter line-up."

"Alexander, no," Sally said coming forward and grabbing him by the shoulder. "These boys don't want to be models, that's not a life for them to get into."

"Sally, shush," Alexander said and turned back to Nico. "Is this your mother?"

"No…" Nico said.

"Good! Then you can decide on your own, I'll call Gilliam du Gilliam, he'll do some head shots." Sally pulled Alexander back a few feet and Nico couldn't help but chuckling at the man's enthusiastic nature. "See, he thinks it's a great idea!"

"Nico, he's a fast talker," Sally said. "Don't let him think you're amused because he'll think you're into the idea. He's talked more experienced young men then you out of their clothing."

Alexander clicked his tongue, "You make me sound horrid," He said. "Besides, this one is very clearly taken by the your son, who is so suddenly playing for the right team." Alexander smiled. "I've got a jean line with your name all over it Percy if your mother will ever lighten up, Levi's loves them, I love them, and I think you could wear them properly."

"Alex, kitchen, stop trying to push your clothes onto them,"

"Mom is it such a bad idea?" Percy asked with a smile, knowing his mother was very much against it.

"Percy, don't encourage him."

"Snap a few pictures and we're done,"

"I'm calling Gill," Alexander said and before Sally could stop him he had a phone to his ear and he was walking back towards the kitchen. The woman gave Percy an annoyed look Nico had only seen on her face when she was talking about Percy's father.

"You are so dead," She said.

"I think I'd make a great model," Percy smiled and she rolled her eyes.

"At least he's back in the kitchen, I can talk him out of it while deciding on the colors for this new collection," Then she turned and began walking towards the kitchen as well, she ducked into it.

"I thought you said he was going to be tame," Nico said.

"Tame, crazy, same difference right?"

"What did you do?" Percy smiled. "Did you just get us jobs?"

"I was only kidding, I don't know how it would work working with Alexander Keaton, he _has_ been with a lot of his models."

"That is a lie Percy Jackson!" Alexander said coming back out of the kitchen with a smile on his face. "And you, doll, sweetie, I don't even know your name, who are you?"

"Nico di Angelo," Nico said slowly.

"Di Angelo? Of Angels?" I love it, it's cherubic, it's ironic, it's gauche," He spoke into his phone. "No, not you Gill," He said. "The kid's name is di Angelo, adorable? More than, imagine punk rocker meets box full of kittens, what? Don't believe me?" He held his phone out and suddenly there was a clicking sound. Nico blinked.

"Did you just take a pic—" Alexander held his hand out.

"Not now sweetie, I'm doing business," He said. "Did you get it, Gill? I _know_ right? That's what I said! He'll sell, sell, sell." Then he put a hand against the side of the phone. "You do want to do this don't you? I can have the contracts faxed over, I'll also need your parent's signature."

"I mean I don't even know you—"

"Gilliam is willing to pay thirty grand American," He said. "di Angelo you are exactly what we're looking for, you must say yes?" Nico felt cornered suddenly, he looked up at Sally who was just shaking her head with a small smile on her face and a bottle of water in her hands, then he looked at Percy who looked as if he were about to start laughing.

"Nico's a great model," He grinned maliciously. "If the mood strikes,"

"You know what?" Nico said. "I'll do it," He said and then he turned to Percy and kissed him slowly on the lips before he could say anything else. "Guess what?" He asked pulling back and Percy grabbed him by the waist pulling him closer.

"What's that babe?"

"You're doing it too," He said, then he stepped out of Percy's embrace and shook hands with Alexander Keaton. "Pleasure doing business,"

"You're going to love it," Alexander replied. Sally sighed heavily.

"I warned you," She said shrugging. "Now, Alex, get your keister in here, we really do have to decide on the colors for this line-up if you expect them to be in it, you didn't even give the poor boy a chance to breathe before he came through the door."

"Breathing leaves the chance to say no," Alexander smiled taking a sip of his wine and crossing the arm that wasn't holding the wineglass over his chest. "I'm a shark Sally, and he's fresh blood in the water." Nico gulped.

"I don't think I like being compared to blood in the water," He said.

"It's an analogy, sweetheart," Alexander said. "Don't worry, Percy'll protect you."

"Alexander. Kitchen. Now." Sally said and the man smiled.

"Ciao, lads," He smiled and Sally gave them a baleful glance as she looked over her shoulder and then shook her head as she finally went back into the kitchen.

"Um, Nico…" Percy said.

"Yes, Percy?" Nico asked.

"I was totally just kidding," Percy replied.

"I know, I'm sorry. Heat of the moment," Nico admitted. "Let's promise not to use my vengeful temper as a means to deciding something ever again."

"I forget how angry you can be sometimes," Percy nodded. "I just hope Mom can talk him out of it."

* * *

"I couldn't talk him out of it," Sally said a few hours later when Alexander Keaton was gone. "Percy why would you joke like that? You know Alex is excitable."

"But you could always just say no to him, right Mom?" Percy asked and Sally looked away. "Right, Mom?"

"I think it'll teach you a lesson, Percy." Sally finally said. "I told you not to get involved."

"But I was just kidding! We don't know the first thing about modeling,"

"Well, I'll make sure he doesn't put you on runway, you've got school to think about now and I don't want you flying out to all those crazy places, but I think you can stand around while they take pictures."

"I have to ask," Nico said. "What's so wrong with modeling a few clothes? We'll be in and out."

"Oh, it's not the clothes that are the problem you know I think you're both handsome young men, but Gilliam du Gilliam is sort of a tyrant of a photographer; he and Alexander have an on and off relationship but Gill is the only person Alex will use to photograph his pictures. Needless to say when things between them aren't the best it isn't always a professional shoot."

"She means that the Vietnam War was more peaceful than those two when they're broken up," Percy elaborated. "Before I got smart and started staying home I went on set with Mom a few times, never seen a three thousand dollar camera before that day, same day I saw a three thousand dollar camera being chuckled across the room, Alexander storming out with tears streaming down his face, and Gilliam not sure which one to take care of first."

"Why do they stay together than?" Nico asked.

"Their relationship is just as much a part of business as Alex's clothing designs or Gill's photography." Sally said. "They're all about being a power couple," Then Sally sighed. "Enough about all this, how's school going boys?"

"Pretty good, Percy's going out for the basketball team," Nico smiled looking at his boyfriend. "The coach is pretty confident about him from what I understand."

"Oh! Percy, that's wonderful," Sally smiled.

"Nothing is concrete yet," Percy shrugged. "I wasn't even supposed to tell Nico just yet till I get a definite answer. But you know it's better than not knowing what I want to do," Suddenly Sally's cell phone was ringing and the woman pulled it out of her jean pocket. She rolled her eyes.

"It's Alex," She said and answered it. "Hello? No, I told you that green looked horrible but you had so many stars in your eyes thinking that Percy and Nico were going to model for you that—Alex, no I don't think they want to," She put a hand against the speaker. "That really is great honey, I'll talk to you boys in a minute, go tell Paul Alex is gone," Percy smiled as she kissed the side of his cheek, then she kissed Nico's as well and was walking off speaking loudly into her phone.

"Is Paul hiding?" Nico asked and Percy laughed.

"No one is safe from Alex," Percy said and they walked through the four bedroom, one floor home stopping outside of Paul's study. Percy knocked _shaved and a haircut_ on the door and Paul answered it, opening it slightly. "He's gone,"

"Thank God," The man said opening the door the rest of the way.

"He was pretty bad but does he really deserve you hiding from him?" Nico asked.

"He's got the perfect line of designs for "drab teachers" like me, he wants to put the stud back into studying," Paul said with a pointed look.

"And who better to showcase them than an actual teacher?" Percy said with a smile, then it fell off of his face. "Nico got us roped into it."

"Oh, you poor boys." Paul said clapping them on the shoulders.

"I didn't know!" Nico said. "I still don't think he's that bad," The next thing any of them knew Sally was standing in the hallway with the phone held against her shoulder.

"He's on his way back," She said and Paul let go of both young men.

"Well, I've got a lot of papers to grade…" He said quickly and the door to his study slammed shut.

"Alex? No, of course Paul's not here, he's grading papers," She laughed into the phone. "Look just hurry up and get back then, I have to start dinner. No, if you want to know that you have to ask them, that's their personal business," Percy and Nico exchanged glances. "Yes, they are together. No, I don't think they need your advice about anything. I understand that you're trying to be a good influence on them but I think they know a lot more than you think they do."

"I'm not sure I want to hear the rest of this," Nico said.

"Come on, I think we should probably hide away in my room," Percy laughed and grabbed the boy by the hand. "I'll get your portfolio ready on my computer."

"I swear I'm going to delete all of those pictures," Nico glared as Percy pulled him along.

"I'll just take more if you," Percy smirked. "You'll let me,"

"Oh, I'm glad to know you think that," Nico replied with a scowl.

"You have pictures of me on your laptop," Percy laughed.

"You put them there," Nico replied.

"You didn't stop me," The taller young man bit Nico's neck. "And you didn't have to set me as your background."

"…shut up," Nico blushed and Percy closed the door behind them.


	25. Chapter 25

Nico was horny. There were no elegant words to say anything otherwise. His loins weren't burning with the desire for release, there were no stabbing pangs of need in his belly, he was just horny. He wanted to spend time with Percy, who was getting out of his last class in about fifteen minutes. The thing about Rachel forcing him to study and do his homework all the time meant it left no work to be done at times like this. He sighed, getting started without Percy was always a though but his boyfriend had become sort of the campus socialite, Nico didn't mind in fact he enjoyed all the company, but he was _really_ horny. So he was sitting on the fold out couch tapping his finger against the arm of it and staring at the television, nearly glaring at because it wasn't Percy. He tapped his finger faster and flipped the channel, deciding then and there that there was nothing good on TV anymore. Nico nearly growled in frustration, not frustration of his randiness, he had been horny before, but frustration of the fact that before it had never been so insistent. Before he had been able to push aside his lust and be productive and now he was about three seconds away from throwing the remote into the television screen.

It had been a busy two weeks, there were a hell of a lot more tests to take at college than there had been in high school and they were much more demanding. Plus, Percy had been accepted begrudgingly by Coach Gleeson onto the second string basketball team, Nico's boyfriend wasn't nearly as tall as any of the players he was just under the six foot marker but he was a good running man. He could put up the shot under pressure and even if he wasn't as experienced he might be a valuable asset later. So, of course, Percy had to go to training and it didn't leave a lot of personal time between the two. Nico didn't need a hobby though, if anything he had one: frantic, hot sex with his boyfriend. Still, he couldn't dive into work like Rachel had, and yet she still found time to suck face with Ethan Nakamura who was on the baseball team, of course it wasn't baseball season yet.

Nico sighed. It had only been five minutes. Then, suddenly, there was a knock at the door and he had to tell himself that he had literally to keep his pants on because it wasn't guaranteed to be Percy, Percy had a key he didn't need to knock. Still, it was like his boyfriend to mess with him like this so Nico looked through the peephole and tried not to let disappointment flood into him when he saw that it was that Calypso girl Percy had taken to hanging out with. Running a hand through his hair and smoothing down his shirt he arranged his features such that he didn't look like a sex-starved fiend and opened the door.

"Hi," The girl said cheerily and Nico sighed under his breath because he wasn't sure why he didn't like her aside from the way her eye appraised Percy, but even that wasn't enough to warrant his dislike. His boyfriend was a good looking guy, people were going to look twice, more than if they could.

"Hey, what's up?" Nico asked. "Percy's not here," He added quickly, and then he watched her face fall by a fraction before she righted her expression into a convincing smile. Nico was a master at reading facial expressions, he had been faking them for so long that it was almost second nature to know how people were feeling.

"Oh, well that's alright. Um, there's a party in the lobby of my dorm in a few nights, I came to invite you guys if you wanted to go?" She said and she wrung her hands in front of her body, she hadn't been expecting Percy to be out. She hadn't expected Nico to answer the door, and she damn sure hadn't been expecting to invite him to the part, the young Italian could tell that just by looking at her.

"I'll let him know," He said darkly, leaning against the doorframe.

"I—" The girl said and then closed her mouth, again she smiled convincingly and Nico could hardly find any untruth to her, there was just something in the way she presented herself that he didn't like and just couldn't bring himself to. "Okay, cool," She grinned. "I'll see you later?" Nico nodded and she began heading away.

"Hey," Nico called after her and she looked over her shoulder. "What do you think I should get Percy for our first anniversary, it's in a few months and I just love him so much, I know he's going to get me something wonderful?" Callie swallowed hard and her eyes darted away.

"I'm not sure, you know him better than I do I'm sure whatever you get him he'll love," She said, smile trembling slightly.

"Like he loves me," Nico said. "Keep that in mind, alright?" Then her gaze was on him.

"What?" She asked.

"Percy loves me very much, and I love him even more than that, I just wanted to make sure you knew that." But something hit Nico hard and he felt like he did when Annabeth had said something similar to what he had just said. "Look, he's easy to fall for, okay? I get that,"

"What are you talking about?" Calypso asked. "I don't like—"

"Look me in the eye and say it then, that you don't feel something for Percy. You don't have to like him like I like him, but that doesn't mean you don't have some sort of feelings towards him that aren't friendly."

"Nico—"

"It's okay if you do, Calypso, I've been there," Nico said. "But I just think you should turn your attention elsewhere." He wasn't going to be like Annabeth, the girl had been scared that Nico was going to steal Percy from her and by distancing them she had pushed them together, Nico wasn't going to make the same mistake.

Then the smile wasn't on her face anymore, her beautiful features were almost confident as she raised an eyebrow, "I have absolutely no idea what you're talking about," She said and she smirked. "Percy and I are just friends."

"Let's keep it that way," Nico said. "Thanks for the invite." Callie nodded and suddenly she was sashaying towards the door, Nico could admit that she had a good walk. Her hips swished in an alluring sort of way, one that spoke of an experienced body, an able gait; still, even with her cocky smirk Nico had seen a pain in her eyes and he guessed she was like him in the way that they didn't want people to see their weak moments.

"Oh, hi Percy," Nico looked up to see Calypso stopping to talk to Percy who was carrying a backpack on one shoulder. The boy looked tired but he smiled when he saw her.

"Hi, Callie," He said with a brilliant grin, but it wasn't the same smile he used for Nico and that made the Italian teen feel better, if only. "What are you doing here?"

"Party invite," She said touching his arm lightly, her body turned towards him and Nico nearly growled. No. He wasn't going to be jealous, he had Percy already and jealousy was a poison that begged to ruin relationships. "Friday, starts at ten, it's a kegger; that fraternity Alpha Theta Pi is throwing it,"

"Sounds like my kind of party then," Percy laughed and the girl mirrored it with an attractive giggle. ' _Damn it, no,_ ' Nico reprimanded himself. Giggles couldn't be attractive, that was just his mind playing with him that Percy flushed slightly hearing it. "I'll bring Nico,"

"Already gave him the invite," Callie said and pointed towards Percy's door, the taller teen looked over and smiled at Nico as he was watching their exchange. It was _his_ smile, the one Percy only showed him and Nico put aside his pettiness then, with a look like that he had to. He was being stupid and not putting near enough faith in Percy. Nico felt foolish as he waved and Percy laughed at him, damn it Percy still made him feel like that kid he had been nearly a year ago, that unsure and blushing awkward kid who wasn't sure what he was allowed to do or think.

"Cool, well we'll probably see you there if I'm allowed to go," Percy smiled again at Nico. "I'm happily kept on a short leash," Callie pursed her lips.

"That's no good," She said. "I'm sure Nico will let you have some fun at least once while you're together." Then quickly she said, "I'll see you there." Percy nodded, confused by the previous statement because it sounded weird, but he shrugged and they exchanged good-byes. Nico tried not to smile when Percy threw his bag on the ground and pushed him against the doorframe, Calypso had somehow still slightly upset him, but in Percy's arms he was quickly forgetting that and remembering the fact that he was horny.

"Hey, beautiful," Was spoken warmly in his ear. "You were waiting at the door for me, does that mean you missed me?"

"Yes," Nico said, still blushing. "Close the door." Percy closed the door and Nico pushed him against it forcefully.

"Damn, Neeks, I've only been gone for a few hours," Percy laughed, rubbing the back of his head as it had impacted roughly with the wooden portal. Nico's fevered lips were on his soon and Percy was still laughing slightly. "Baby," he said. "I'm really tired, I don't know if I can do everything you like to do."

"I don't care," Nico said. "I just want you," He kissed the side of Percy's neck. "I know you're tired, so go sit on the bed."

"I like when you take control," Percy nearly growled, but Nico could see his boyfriend's need for sleep and he followed him to the bed. Percy sat and grabbed at Nico, who pulled out of the grip and sank to his knees. "What are you doing?" Percy asked.

"As if you don't know," Nico rolled his eyes and unbuckled Percy's pants. "Lift your ass," Obliging the taller teen did so and his pants were pulled around his ankles.

"Nico…" He said, his eyes becoming half-lidded.

"That's my name," Nico smirked and kissed the flaccid penis in front of him, to his delight it jumped. Nico was horny, yes, but he was yearning this, feeling the connection between them, plus he was in the mood to touch Percy, not necessarily to be touched. Nico never allowed himself to touch only to be touched and it was a sad fact that he had been working on righting. Percy's eyes closed as Nico took him into his mouth and he marveled at how wet and hot it was inside.

"Fuck," He growled. "Fuck, I had a hard day but it's better now." Nico laughed and the tremors of it went through Percy's body causing him to convulse. Nico wouldn't admit it but he had gotten quite a bit better at fellatio. He held Percy by the base of his mass and swallowed him to the back of the throat, then, before his gag reflex kicked in he pulled him to the back of his lips and repeated the process, grating the soft, sensitive skin there with his teeth. Nico groaned when Percy bucked into his mouth and he quickly swallowed him down again. Letting go Nico placed a tender kiss on the towering mast and sucked at the junction between stiffness and Percy's testicles, the boy being pleasured moaned loudly.

"Don't forget to keep it down," Nico smiled and Percy grabbed him by the back of the head.

"Shut up and suck my dick," Then he was pushing the boy's mouth down onto himself again and Nico chuckled loudly, again sending tremors of pleasure through Percy like spikes of ice. After a good amount of sucking and bobbing Percy climaxed hard down Nico's throat, sending warm, salty ooze into him at a rapid rate. Nico nearly chocked but swallowed it all down, his throat felt a bit raw after an abuse like that but Percy couldn't help but laugh at the look on his face. "

"You're supposed to warn me when you do that," Nico reprimanded.

It's your fault," Percy replied and Nico climbed onto his bare legs. "You're so horned up tonight. I like it," Then he ruined the mood in the worst way possible, he yawned. It amazed Nico how quickly he had forgotten Percy was tired. All the running his boyfriend did it was no surprise he was fatigued and Nico kissed him.

"You may go to sleep now," He said, kissing the side of his neck.

"But I didn't do you," Percy said grabbing Nico's ass, and the boy held back a groan, pushing Percy into the bed. Nico kissed him on the mouth again and Percy kissed back, yawning again when Nico sat up.

"Good night, Perseus," Nico laughed and pulled Percy's pants the rest of the way off, along with his shoes. Percy pulled his shirt off and Nico ran a hand down his defined chest.

"But Nico—"

"Later," Nico smiled and grasped Percy's dwindling erection. "You'll be up for it when you wake up."

"You're so into it right now though," Percy replied and Nico laughed.

"That, my friend, is your fault." The older teen pulled Nico down into the bed and then pulled the covers around them. "I'm not sleepy," Nico said as Percy nibbled on his neck. "Don't get me started, I'm putting you to sleep."

"Well I need you right here to sleep good," The older teen held Nico closer, so close their heartbeats began to synchronize and Nico couldn't help but smile as Percy continued to nibble his neck, and then his ear. "I'm a lot more tired than I thought I was," He yawned.

"I knew you were," Nico smiled. "You haven't made a pass at me all week,"

"Damn," Percy said. "I haven't? God, that's messed up."

"So I took matters into my own hands," Nico said and he turned over in Percy's arms so he could look the boy in the eyes, Percy ground his hips forward.

"Glad you like me being inside of you that much," The older brunet smiled and kissed Nico's lips. "Your mouth is hot,"

"Don't forget to return the favor later," Nico laughed and Percy yawned again, then he was snuggling into Nico's warmth he kissed the top of the boy's head.

"Can't wait," He said into Nico's hair, then he was asleep like clockwork. The younger teen hugged Percy back tightly, his hands pressed firmly into Percy back, and he realized that somehow his horniness and his need to be around Percy had become one in the same, interchangeable. Nico shook his head and turned again so his back was against Percy's chest, he decided he would stay in the older boy's arms till he was snoring then he would get up and do something. But, Nico found himself dozing lightly not five minutes later warm and content.

* * *

Okay, Leo wasn't freaked out. Someone who was freaked out would be screaming that they were freaking out and Leo knew he had a tendency to blow things out of proportion. He and Jason were kissing, it wasn't anything new really. They had kissed forty-two times, not that he was keeping track. It was just that his mind was designed for organization, and so he may or may not file away every little moment they spent alone together. Jason pulled back and smiled and Leo felt his heart leaping. "You're blushing," Jason said and that made Leo all the more nervous.

"Sorry," He apologized and the blond boy holding him so closely laughed.

"You've got to stop saying you're sorry," Jason smiled and kissed him again. Forty-three. Leo wasn't nervous about kissing, it was just that by now a lot of people their age were lot further in their relationship. Leo envied Jason's friend Nico, that guy seemed so much more confident than he was in this area. "Leo? You there, buddy?" Leo blinked.

"Sorry," He said and again Jason laughed. "Oh, I mean—sorry!" He said and Jason patted him on the back.

"You're so funny," Jason smiled. "Gotta pee, I kinda really need to go but you haven't let me up in like an hour," Leo nearly jumped, he realized that the only reason Jason was holding him was because the small Latino boy had him in a near vice-like leg grip.

"Sorry!" Forty-six, Jason kissed him again.

"I'll be right back," He laughed. "Keep your lips warm for me," Leo nodded and watched Jason go then he collapsed onto Jason's bed. His Mom had given him the day off so he could spend some time with the blond, which meant that he was finally able to come see his…his boyfriend's dorm. That thought still made Leo shiver, the problem was he had never had a boyfriend before. Hell, he had never had a girlfriend before, he had never had _anyone_ before that was little less than an acquaintance and now he and Jason were so much closer than that.

He didn't know what to do, they had been together for almost two months now and he wasn't sure if they should have been taking things faster. Jason said it was fine, that they would get into all that stuff when Leo was comfortable with it, but Leo wasn't sure if he would ever be comfortable with it. The thought of Jason seeing him, nude, defenseless and scared was enough to make him go near palpitation. He was deftly sure that Jason would be repulsed by the sight of his body, it astounded him that the blond was even into kissing him at all. Leo sucked at it, he was sure of that as well. He got too into it and he puckered his lips wrong and Jason was so good at it.

The Hispanic boy sighed audibly. He had a fear of being hurt, of being left. He knew that, it wasn't much of a secret, but he also had a fear of falling too quickly in love with Jason. Leo had always been a guy with strong feelings, he didn't want to scare the blond teen off by seeming clingy and needy, which was why he refused to call Jason more than once every other day, it wasn't like he wanted anything anyway he just liked the sound of his voice. He jumped when he felt a finger trace down his face and he looked up to see Jason smiling down at him.

"You alright?" The blond boy asked.

"Y-yeah," Leo nodded. "I'm fine," Then he gave his overconfident smile that Jason was coming to learn meant Leo was thinking too deeply or being insecure about something and he shook his head kissing the younger boy.

"Really?" He asked, taking a seat on the bed and pulling Leo into his lap; Leo sat with his legs wrapped around Jason, his ear burning red and his cheeks darkening as Jason absently tickled his sides, the boy wasn't incredibly ticklish but the nerves were still active and without much effort behind the attack it had Leo squirming in Jason's lap.

"Yes, really," Leo said quietly, smiling against his will.

"Okay, let's pretend I believe that," Jason said, touching where Leo's cheek pulled up into a grin. "Then what were you thinking about?" Leo blinked and blushed deeper somehow. Okay, if he really wanted to keep Jason around—and he really, truly, seriously did. Jason was so amazing—then he had to do something about it. At least, that's what he thought, so leaning in he kissed Jason hard on the lips. He wished it was as easy as the blond boy made it seem, it felt awkward with his arms just laying at his sides so he placed his hands on Jason's shoulders and his heart nearly leapt out of his chest when he felt a response. Jason's arms wrapped around his back and secured Leo's middle down on his own, the boy could feel a very private warmth radiating from underneath him and he remembered to breathe as he pulled back. "Leo—" Jason said, but Leo was on his lips again and he wrapped his arms around the blond's neck. He pressed his chest to Jason's and his mind was reeling from the touching of their lips, but his anxiety was still very present in his mind. He had to do this, at least provide his boyfriend with something that promised a day when he wasn't so insecure. Jason pulled back and pushed Leo away, he looked at the younger, darker teen with a serious expression. _Oh God_ , were Leo's thoughts, _I did something wrong_. "Leo—"

"I'm sorry," He said quickly, not looking up to meet Jason's gaze. "I shouldn't have done that. I suck at kissing, I know. I wasn't thinking," Leo felt Jason grab his chin and he was forced to look up. The blond boy was still giving him a very stern look.

"Leo, you're shaking," Jason said. "What are you doing?"

"I don't know, Jason, I'm sorry—"

"You're apologizing too much," Jason said. "What's going on in your head, for real?"

"I just thought…you know, I was being too cold, I mean all we've done is kiss, and I don't even know why you want to kiss me I suck at it and then what we have to do after kissing, that's going to be weird, you're going to get one good look at me and go running—"

"Leo, you don't suck at kissing," Jason smiled. "Sometimes you roll your tongue in my mouth and I like it." Then he took Leo's hands. "What don't you think I'll like about your body?" It occurred to Jason that in all of his time of having known Leo he had never seen the boy shirtless, not completely. In a clinging tank top, yes, but shirtless no; when they went swimming he always gave some weak excuse about keeping his shirt on and Jason had never cared to dispute it.

"I—Jason, I just don't think you'll like what you see,"

"Yes I will," Jason said. "I like everything about you, Leo. Stop thinking so hard." Then he kissed him. "Show me." Leo hesitated but Jason guided his hands towards the boy's shirt and slowly his fingers wrapped around the hem of it. Lifting it Jason was shown scarred and grafted skin, there were hundreds of white scars running this way and that across his stomach and chest and a few stitch lines from where the skin had been grafted back onto his body. Leo wrung his shirt in his hand and his eyes filled with tears. "Leo you're…"

"I know," He put his shirt down. "I didn't want you to see it. When I was staying with my _Tia_ Callida there was a fire in her apartment, I got burned pretty bad and we broke through the windows to get out and it cut me up pretty bad—" Jason pinched Leo's lips together.

"Leo, you're beautiful," He said and he pulled up the smaller boy's shirt again, with his other hand he trailed a finger of a particularly long scar. Leo shivered for the second time for a different reason. "Besides, we've been going out for two months, I'm a little old fashioned but I don't think that's enough time for us to be doing much more than making-out just yet, okay? Trust me, I want to, I like everything about you," To demonstrate his point he ran his hands down Leo's sides. "I like _you_ , okay? You like me too, right?" Leo was nodding, so much so that Jason smiled and grabbed him by the front of his face to stop him. "Good, I can't tell you to stop worrying about it because I know you and that's not possible, but just remember that I like you, okay? Have for a long time, in fact."

"I'll try to remember it," Leo said quietly. "I'm messed up, Jase, when my mom told you I was crazy she wasn't kidding. I'm sorry, I think about stuff too much and I just can't stop, I mean I wish I was built like a car, you know? Then I could just open myself up and fix whatever was wrong inside,"

"I love the way you're built now, and I don't think you're messed up." Jason smiled and kissed Leo again before anymore argument could have been given. "Come on, we'll get you something to eat, I'm sure you're hungry considering I've kind of starved you by keeping you in the Batcave all day."

"The…Batcave?" Leo asked, a small smile touching his lips, like he said: Jason was amazing. He didn't know how the boy did it but he made everything okay.

"Yeah, my cool pad," Jason smiled and stood, pulling Leo up by his hand.

"Cool is taking it a bit far; I think Batman had a bigger bed than a twin…" The shorter teen smirked and Jason laced their hands together, walking them to the door.

"Twin extra long," Jason corrected, "And you're just jealous of how cool my room is, yours is filled with car parts and covered in posters and has all kinds of stuff you like in it, who wants a room like that?" He chuckled and so did Leo.

"Why don't we bring some more of your stuff up here then? Your walls are kind of bare,"

"Nah," Jason shrugged. "All I need in there is you."

"Nice one man," They looked up to see Percy and Nico coming out into the hallway from their own room. Percy was smiling at Jason's comment knowingly and Nico rolled his eyes, elbowing Percy in the ribs.

"Shut up before I start embarrassing you," Nico laughed and Percy just grinned, then he looked at the two young men. "What are you guys doing?"

"We're going to get some dinner," Jason said.

"Us too," Nico smiled. "How about a double date?" The blond looked down at Leo who was looking back up at him.

"What do you think?" He asked him.

"I—whatever you want to do, Jase," Leo smiled, his ears pink. Jason just laughed and kissed the top of Leo's head.

"Sounds like a plan," He said and they made their way to the eateries located on campus.

"Glad we're not the only ones eating late," Percy said. "Nico and I had to catch a very needed catnap, and then I owed him a favor when I woke up, he just didn't know I was going to wake up by performing said favor," Nico cleared his throat.

"What Percy is trying to say is we're pretty wiped most of the time, how's school treating you so far Jason?"

"I'm not too tired," Jason shrugged. "I'm sort of getting away from all nighters, it's nice to sleep at night and not have to go to a lot of parties like I did in high school,"

"What about you, Leo?" Nico asked. "School?"

"Nah, I'm not in school, I work in my Mom's garage, I help her fix or build cars," Leo said absently. Percy's face lit up and Nico rolled his eyes. But before Percy could open his mouth his cell phone rang.

"Saved by the bell," Nico laughed and when Leo and Jason gave him a dual uncomprehending stare he quickly explained that Percy was a car enthusiast, Jason just nodded, understanding Nico's pain while Leo rolled his eyes.

"There's nothing wrong with being a car enthusiast," The Latino boy said and Jason chuckled.

"Of course not, Leo, baby." Leo blushed.

"I don't know," Percy was saying and he sighed then he held a hand up to his phone's speaker. "Nico, when are you free to do your first shoot? Alexander is hounding Mom and she's about to be at her wit's end."

"I—" Nico paused. "We're still doing this?"

"Apparently. Mom says he's "adamant" about you and me shooting at least a few photos,"

"Well, I mean midterms are coming up soon, and I have to study for those, but uh, is this weekend cool? That way you can come with me and "protect me?" Percy nodded and relayed the message to his mother.

"She says that's cool, she also says not to look Gill in the eyes only in the lens of the camera," Nico nodded slowly, turned off even more to the gig suddenly.

"That's not vague and scary at all," He said and Percy just shook his head.

"Yeah, okay, love you Mom." He said. "No, do not give Alexander this number. Mom? Mom!" Then Percy was groaning. "She's going to give him my number."

"I told you not to tease me anymore in front of people, it has very bad consequences for both of us now."

"You guys are modeling?" Leo asked and Nico smiled because he was happy to see the boy coming out of his shell a bit more, then it dropped off his face as the question registered.

"Blame Percy," He said. "He pushed me into it; I wasn't given proper warning about the fashion designer being a quote/unquote "shark."

"I said I was sorry," Percy said and the other two young men laughed. Soon they were ordering food from a small pizzeria and taking seats in the Atrium, which stayed open till about ten. "Anyway, long story short my Mom is a fashion designer who's been working with this big company under a guy named Alexander Keaton, he liked her enough to make her his almost partner and they collaborate on a lot of stuff together. I always thought models were supposed to have like this quality to them but he's been on me about doing some of his stuff for as long as my Mom's been in the game, I wasn't surprised when he asked Nico though. I could see where he was coming from."

"You already got in my pants today, Perce," Nico laughed and Percy gave him a serious look.

"I'm serious," He said. "I think you'll do great,"

"You have to say that," Nico shrugged and their drinks were brought to the table.

"Doesn't make it less true," Percy smiled and Nico rolled his eyes, but his cheeks were tinged red as Percy kissed the side of his face. They made small talk for a good twenty minutes, Percy and Leo finally getting to talk about cars and different years and models and makes. Then there was a loud ding.

"Order up!" The man behind the pizzeria counter shouted and Jason got up.

"I'll help you get it all," Percy said and stood as well, with an order of cheese sticks, cheesy bread, hot wings, cinnamon rolls, and two large supremes it was quite the order. The tall, athletic young men walked off towards the counter and Nico was only temporarily distracted by watching Percy's gym shorts swish as he walked.

"I envy you," Nico blinked and looked over at Leo who was very interested in the table.

"Envy? Why? Jason's a great looking guy, he's smart and funny, and I bet he doesn't fart and lock the doors and windows while he's driving the car," Nico smiled at the Latino boy. "If anything I probably envy you."

"No, not like that," Leo said, blushing. "Me and Jason are just starting out, and I mean you and Percy seem so happy together and you've both been…intimate together. I'm kind of scared of doing anything just yet and Jason wants to wait for it to be just right." Leo said. "I just wanted to say it if we ever got the chance to be alone, that I'm a little envious," Nico laughed.

"Do you have a cell phone?" He asked and Leo nodded. "Let me see it," The browner boy handed it to him.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"Programming my number into your phone, if you ever need anyone to talk to about that kind of stuff you just call me, alright? If Percy answers make up an excuse because I don't think you're the kind of guy who wouldn't want to stay on the line listening to the gory details of our sex life, he'll tell you everything. But call me and I'll let you know how to make it all work properly," Leo blushed even deeper.

"I—you really don't have to do that," Leo said going to grab his phone.

"No, it's okay," Nico laughed. "You're not comfortable, I understand, I don't talk about this kind of stuff, not cause I'm uncomfortable just because it's stuff not everyone needs to know, but you have to be careful," Then Nico leaned forward. "And take your time, it's okay, take as long as you need to get together. Percy and I were confused about a lot of it, and we don't know everything but getting information from a friend is a lot better than, like, asking a doctor right? Or your parents."

Leo looked scandalized. "Oh God, if I asked my Ma about anything—" He nearly gasped.

"Yeah, I know," Nico laughed. "But it's good to wait, get comfortable. Me and Percy were just ready for it, you have to be ready for it." Leo nodded and Nico handed him his phone back. "Text me or call me anytime, alright man? If I'm busy I'll call you back when I can."

Then Leo looked relieved and a wide smile broke out over his face. "Thanks," He said.

"No problem," Nico laughed.

"We-a come-a bearing-a pizza," Percy said sitting the pies and other assorted food stuffs down on the table. It was quite possibly the worst Italian accent Nico had ever heard and he quickly inform his boyfriend of such.

"You're not going to speak like that in front of my grandparents are you?" He asked and Percy laughed.

"No, why? Should I?" He laughed and Nico elbowed him.

"Just eat your damn pizza,"


	26. Chapter 26

"I don't like it," Nico said sitting Indian style in his computer chair at his study desk. He was facing Percy and Rachel who were sitting on the couch opposite of him arbitrarily watching television and eating popcorn that had been microwaved not too many minutes ago. "Don't like her, more like it," He said pointedly.

"What's not to like about her, babe?" Percy asked turning a quizzical eye at his boyfriend.

"You're not jealous of her, are you Nico?" Rachel asked with a large grin, leaning over so she could see Nico properly. Her hair had become an arduous task so she cut it. Of course she had done it herself so it sat in flat, uneven layers on her head. The back slightly longer than the front tickled the sides of her neck and her new, nearly jagged fringe didn't look as bad as one might have thought, it just barely swept above her eyebrows. When it grew back in it would probably look phenomenal, such was the luck of Rachel Elizabeth Dare, but now it just looked like she had cut her own hair. Not horrible but certainly it wasn't as lustrous and flowing as it had been before. Rachel loved it, considering she had just done it this morning she hadn't had time to style it but it certainly was a change. Ethan on the other hand found it amusing and shocking, he still wasn't exactly sure if he liked it and Percy had laughed at his slack jawed reaction. The brunet teen had warned the muscular RA but he hadn't listened and now he was witnessing firsthand Rachel's quirkiness, like her waking up at dawn only to begin her first of several mugs of coffee, the fact that she would parade around in her pajamas unless it was absolutely necessary to put on anything else and under those same circumstances she refused to wear make-up as well.

Nico shrugged and sighed, "Not jealous, no," He said, very clearly jealous. "I just think you guys spend an awful lot of time together." It was true, Percy and Calypso did a lot of things together without Nico, they had lunch and dinner, Percy went over to her room to study while Nico was in class or she would come over to theirs, she just seemed to be inserting herself into their life and Nico wasn't sure how to say that without looking petty.

"That's crazy," Percy said with a small smile. "I'm not jealous of Jason,"

"That's different!" Nico replied. "Jason's got a boyfriend, and you guys actually get along, you hang out with Jason, remember?"

"So if I got you to hang out with Callie it'd be okay?" Percy asked with an upraised eyebrow.

"I don't think I want to," Nico said, diverting his eyes. "I can't tell you not to hang out with her, but I seriously don't like her. I don't have to like all of your friends," Rachel nodded, her uneven locks slightly bouncing along with her movements.

"He's right you know," She said and then she smiled. "If it's any conciliation I don't really like her that much either. I think she's trying to get in your pants."

"Callie knows Nico and I are together, and that he and I are happy; she wouldn't mess with that. Are you trying to say that a guy in a committed relationship can't hang out with a single girl?" Percy asked her. "Isn't that like anti-feminist or something?"

"More like anti-male," Rachel rolled her eyes. "And no, that's not what I'm saying, I'm saying I don't really know her well enough to like her, and from what I've seen I'm not too impressed." Percy sighed and sank back into the seat, crossing his arms.

"Do my friends have to impress either of you?"

"Percy, I don't know why you're getting upset," Nico said from his chair.

"Because I don't like the fact that you guys are sitting here talking about how you don't like Callie, neither of you have even ever really spoken to her, and you've never made the effort to. How do you know you don't like her if you don't give her a chance?" Both Nico and Rachel were quiet then. "Exactly, I really didn't expect this out of either of you, you're both always so understanding."

"It's just a bad vibe," Rachel shrugged. "I'll talk to her at this party tonight, see if I can get a better read on her, then I'll decide about whether or not if she's a good person, alright?"

"Hey, if I say she's a good person that should be more than enough," Percy replied, his lips drawn thin. Nico had to admit than when Percy befriended someone they were in and it took nothing short of a miracle for them to be let go. He sighed.

"I'm sorry," He said shrugging again. "I shouldn't have just been making judgments about her, she's your friend and I should give her a chance. Better?" The tall brunet feigned a look of annoyance then he grinned.

"See, it's not that hard to be sorry," Percy smirked, then he patted his leg motioning for Nico to come sit. "Why are you still all the way over there?"

"Because I'm supposed to be finishing my homework up early since you expect me to go to this thing," Nico said with a scowl. "If you want to do these algorithms for me then please be my guest."

"Uh…no, that's alright," Percy laughed and Rachel grinned.

"You know just because he says he's sorry doesn't wrap up the fact that he's jealous of Callie,"

"Shut up, Rachel," Nico threw over his shoulder and then turned back his to math. The young Italian teen heard footsteps and he knew before he looked that Percy was coming to loom over his shoulder. There was a warm cheek pressed against of his face, and lips ghosted over his the side of his mouth.

"Are you jealous?" Percy asked in a smirking manner, Nico felt himself becoming red and he nearly erased a hole into his paper from trying to ignore his boyfriend.

"You're not going to give me a reason to be jealous of her, so no," He replied knowing Percy could feel his how hot his face was. He cursed his expressiveness when he was around any of the Jacksons, current or ex. Then the looming young man kissed his cheek.

"You're so cute," He said massaging Nico's shoulders, the receiving teen gripped his pencil tighter as Percy worked out a knot in his back and he closed his eyes, stifling a groan.

"I have to finish this, Perce," Nico said in a voice that betrayed any actual desire to get his work done. "It's due tomorrow,"

"You're almost done," Percy laughed in his ear, running his tongue down the shell of it. Nico shivered.

"And I'm still here," Rachel replied. "How about this? I'll help you clean up in here a little bit while he finishes up his last few problems, don't you guys have room checks today?" Percy sighed and leaned forward giving Nico a soft squeeze at his middle and smiled to himself when the boy took air in threw his teeth. Then he stood to his full height and turned to Rachel.

"Your boyfriend's the RA, I'm sure he'll let us slide," He smiled.

"No sir," Rachel replied. "I expressly told him to grade you guys harder, you know the worse you get on cleanliness the more it adds to the cost of living in these things?" Then she grinned evilly. "I thought it was a good incentive to make you actually pick up after yourself since I knew Nico wouldn't enforce that rule,"

"I tried," Nico said over his shoulder. "You better be glad I finally got him to appeal the "clothing prohibition law" I just barely got him in pants before we answered the door, and it was in no small part to me making a lot of promises that will most likely embarrass not only me, but anyone who might catch us."

"My God, Percy, is there no end to your sexual deviancy?" Rachel asked with a smirk. "What did you have to promise?"

"Me and him," Percy answered before Nico could promptly tell the girl to mind her own damned business. "On the quad against that big willow tree that hides anyone that goes underneath it later tonight no matter how drunk I am."

"We're going to get caught," Nico groaned and laid his head against the desk. "The night groundskeeper is going to come walking by and Percy knows I can't keep quiet, God. We're going to get kicked out, Paul's going to be shamed. Sally'll have to move you guys to Milwaukee where no one's ever heard of the exhibitionist formerly known as Percy Jackson, you'll have to change your name, see? God! I'll have to change my name! My father's going to disown me—"

"We get it Nico, you're not into the idea," Rachel laughed. "But I've seen you with a few drinks in you; I hardly think you'll mind so much later tonight."

"No," Nico said. "I refuse to get drunk tonight,"

"Wine coolers make his clothes fall off," Percy smirked and nibbled Nico's ear. "I'm afraid to see what a mixed drink might do to him,"

"You're such a bad influence," Nico sighed. "I should have made you wait for sex till we were married then you wouldn't have such a hold over me!" Percy laughed.

"You know Nico," Rachel said. "It's you that's got the hold on him. I mean think about it, you could do what he does to you by yourself, you've got finger," Nico's face became horribly red and suddenly his last math problem required his full attention. "But Percy, well a hand just won't work for that will it Perce?" Then Percy raised an eyebrow.

"Are we doing this?" He asked.

"Doing what?" Rachel answered with a question.

"Alright, then, tell me Rach, have you let Ethan hit it yet?" Now, Nico had never seen Rachel blush he figured that she was so far beyond any sort of prudishness or virtue that it just couldn't happen but at that moment her face flamed hotter than her hair and he had to smile widely. "That's a yes,"

"How was it?" Nico asked.

"I am not going to discuss—!" Rachel began.

"Au contraire," Nico said with a large, victorious grin. "You're all too happy talking about me and Percy together, so I want to hear it. Gory, gruesome details and all."

"Nico…"

"Spill it Rachel," He turned around in his chair with a smile. The girl looked to Percy for help and he only shrugged, she had gotten herself into this situation. Then she sighed, she wasn't a shy girl but it was more out of thought for Ethan, she wasn't sure how he would feel about her divulging on their alone time.

"You really want to know?" She asked.

"I kind of do now that you say it like that," Nico replied, interests piqued.

"Don't you have math you should be finishing?" The dark haired teen swiveled in his chair, finished his problem and turned back to her within a matter of seconds.

"Done," He smiled, the choppy haired redhead rolled her eyes.

"Well, we haven't exactly gone all the way yet," She said looking perturbed.

"What's that mean?" Nico asked. "'Not exactly?'"

"It means she's gone down on him," Percy shrugged. "Seen the goods but not felt them properly, y'know?" The next thing he knew Rachel's palm was connecting with the back of his head quite furiously. "Fucking ow! What did I do?"

"Shut up Percy," She glared. "I wouldn't say it like that,"

"That doesn't make it less true," Percy leered back. "You didn't have to hit me."

"You deserved it," Rachel returned.

"Why? Nico's gone down on me like a million times and he's never—ow!" Percy yelled as a dictionary connected with the side of his face. "Nico, what the hell?"

"I can't believe you Percy," Nico scoffed.

"What the hell did I do? I thought we were all talking about this kind of stuff!"

"Idiot," Rachel and Nico huffed at the same time. Percy settled hard back into the couch, crossing both arms over his chest.

"Whatever," He sulked and his boyfriend smiled at the pouting, it made him forgivable. Standing and walking over to him he kissed him. Then he settled against the older brunet. "I'm not an idiot," Percy said very seriously to Nico, the boy knew that Percy hated being called dumb and suddenly he was apologetic.

"You're not," Nico said, kissing him again. "I know."

"So should we go back to pestering Rachel then?" Percy asked and wrapped his arms around the slighter young man's waist, both boys turned to look at the redhead who met them with a smile.

"You guys _really_ want to know the details?" She asked running a hand through her hair and mussing the locks against her head. "Because if it's that big a deal then I'll tell you," Nico chuckled and grabbed the remote out of Percy's hand.

"We're just kidding, Rachel," He shrugged.

"I'm just saying, I could tell you all about his big di—"

"That's more than enough!" Percy interrupted. "The only dicks around here I'm worried about are mine and Nico's," Then the younger man found himself chuckling at how flustered Percy looked.

"I was going to say his big dice collection, perv," Rachel said with a devious smirk.

"Yeah, _sure_ ," Nico chuckled.

"It's a nice collection, long and thick and—"

"Long and thick a dice collection does not make," Nico said and Rachel's grin just grew. "Alright, note to self, you're really not shy about these things. You just lulled us into a false sense of security to gross us out."

"Oh please, you think he's sexy," Rachel laughed, Nico considered that but didn't let it show on his face, instead he shrugged. "And you know what's weird? He's strangely really intelligent, like, I thought guys that looked like him were all big airheads, no offense Percy."

"Hey!"

"It was a double sided compliment, baby," Nico said with a small smile.

"Anyway," Rachel smirked. "He's a Physics major. Like, seriously? Hot and brainy? I'm melting over here,"

"If that's the case why haven't you guys…you know?" Percy asked and Rachel shrugged.

"The time's not right; unlike you two we can keep it in our pants for a while before we do the nasty."

"We did our waiting," Nico said. "Eight years of it,"

"That doesn't count, that's friendship years," Rachel laughed. "The point is I won't be giving it up for a while and he knows that, and also," She turned a dark eye on Percy. "I've only "gone down" on him once, he returned the favor; it was spectacular. He's got an incredibly talented tongue,"

Nico cleared his throat, "Oh…kay, quick topic change, what time is this party supposed to be tonight?"

"Ten," Percy said and checked his watch. "It's eight now, still got two hours to kill," Then he smiled deviously. "I can think of something for us to do that'll make that time fly right by."

"If you're suggesting a threesome I'll break your face," Rachel growled.

"Everything's more fun in threes!" Percy exclaimed laughing, Nico punched him in the arm.

"Stuff it, Percy," The aforementioned shrugged and rubbed his arm, then his smile became devious.

"Hey Rachel," He looked over Nico's head. "You _should_ go though 'cause me and Nico really do need some alone time."

"You're so tactful about this sort of thing," Rachel glared.

"Look, Nico's got a very nice ass. I get jealous if other people see it," Percy grinned. "You'll want to steal him from me." The aforementioned boy rolled his eyes.

"Oh this is _so_ putting me in the mood," He deadpanned. "I think I'd like to be able to walk around the party without limping, so that idea is out." Then he thought for a second. "What we _should_ do is invite Jason and Leo…I don't even know if Leo's on campus or not but we should at least see if they want to go."

"Don't tell me you guys are doing that four's company thing? Going on like double dates and stuff?" Rachel asked.

Percy shrugged, "Not really, we all had dinner together the other day,"

"I just like them," Nico said. "Leo especially,"

"He's a pretty talkative guy," Percy laughed. It was true, when Jason wasn't making Leo blush beyond all reason he was very, very social. It was as if he were trying to make up for a lot of shortcomings in how amiable he could be. Smile too confidently; laugh a little too loudly for a little too long. But, Nico still liked him; he saw something of himself reflected in the other boy, though where Nico turned his any feeling that wasn't happiness into a cold loathing which he projected onto others it seemed most times Leo seemed to take it all in and leave it there, letting it eat away at his self-esteem and self-confidence. The young Italian teen could understand that, a lot of times in the world it felt like no one understood you. Like you were the only person to have ever gone through your trials and endeavors; and, to some extent that was true and there was no belittling anyone else's problems but Nico knew that somewhere in the world someone had at least gone through something similar to whatever ailed someone else. It was inevitable. As humans we are bound to repeat the same emotions, actions, and ideas as our predecessors and not even know we were repeating them.

Leo was an enigma to Nico, not because he knew the boy had some kind of pain behind his eyes—everyone has pain behind their eyes, this was again inevitable—but because he wondered what hurt Leo so much that he had to make up with it by being so boisterous. It seemed like when there was no one else around Leo would revert back into himself, and Nico had noticed that when Percy and Jason had gotten up to get their pizza the other day. It was then that Leo had turned quiet, but not a few minutes after that the small Mexican boy seemed to remember Nico was sitting there and he gave a small smile and attempted conversation. "Call Jason up and see if he wants to go," Percy said seeing Nico fall into his thoughtful pattern, he was getting used to that introspective look that come over his boyfriend's face.

"Oh, uh, yeah, alright," Nico tried to blink thought away and he pushed out of Percy's lap then he made his way over to the bed where his phone lied upon the nightstand. He dialed Jason's number.

" _Hello_?" The voice asked after a few rings.

"Hey, Jason," Nico said. "This is sudden, I know, but me and Percy wanted to know if maybe you and Leo wanted to go to a party with us tonight?" Nico took a seat on the bed and sat Indian style.

" _Oh—uh—yeah, sure. Leo can't come, he's working late tonight_ ," Jason replied. " _But I can go and Thalia's here too she'll probably go_."

"Tell him to get his ass over here; he's, like, right down the hall," Percy laughed from across the room. Nico smiled and relayed the message, Jason agreed to it and they said their byes. Closing his phone he made his way back over to the couch and sat between Rachel and Percy and the older boy smiled down on him.

It occurred to Nico how he had been taking that smile for granted. Introspection always made him more aware of things. Percy was beautiful in just about every way; he took his boyfriend's hand in his own and settled against him. So comfortable in his abilities to just reach out and touch. The older teen leaned down and kissed him on the top of his head and Nico closed his eyes. He wondered if he had he told Percy that he loved him today? "I love you," He said, and he knew it sounded sudden to both people in the room but he didn't care. It was true. Percy grinned and touched his lips to the boy's forehead and Nico tried not to revel in the warmth of them but he pressed himself against Percy harder.

"I love you too," Percy said in his ear and Nico thought maybe they should have thrown Rachel out. The girl was doing a good job of tuning them out as she watched television but he didn't think she would like it if they started doing it in front of her. She was happy enough to be done with studying for at least just a day; but now Ethan was studying for upcoming midterms so she had taken it upon herself to hang out with her friends, who were now being all couple-y again. Then there was a knock on the door and Nico thought it was best that they not do anything. When he and Percy were together he tended to forget his limits and more often than not lost himself to emotion.

His damn emotions, they were the problems. They reared their head at the strangest of times, and he couldn't really handle them when they came because for the longest time he had pushed them away. He loved the way they made him feel, warm down to his core, but sometimes his love felt overpowering like it was going to spill over out of him and that hardly ever happened when it was convenient, like when he and Percy were alone. Rachel was here and Jason was knocking and Nico just wanted Percy to take him on the desk. He felt Percy's reluctance to stand but finally the older brunet pulled away and went to the door.

"Hi," Jason said, standing there not necessarily awkward in the doorway but in that way that people stand when they're around new friends, not yet entirely sure of decorum and protocol but working one's way into it. Thalia stood behind him less awkwardly, she had no problem meeting people.

"Hey, guys, come on in," Percy said with a smile, ever the socialite. Nico looked between his boyfriend and Jason; they were similar in that jock sense. Both tall, broad shouldered and well chested, small muscles visible underneath form fitting tee-shirts. But where Jason was wearing jeans Percy was still in his practice shorts, the brunet stepped aside to let them inside and once they were Percy closed the door behind them. "How you guys doing?" Percy asked. It astounded Nico that his boyfriend never ran out of things to talk about, he had that in common with Leo. But where Leo seemed forced in doing it Percy made it look natural. Then the brunet pulled Nico's desk chair over beside the couch and told them to sit. "You guys want something to drink? Eat?"

"I'm cool," Jason smiled.

"What do you got?" Thalia asked and Percy showed her to the small fridge. Soon they were all situated in the room and Jason and Percy distracted themselves with video games; Nico was surprised to see that Thalia and Rachel were getting along, he figured that since the girl didn't seem to like him that she wouldn't be very fond of the redhead either. "I love your hair," She said fingering the choppy red locks.

"Thanks," Rachel smiled offhandedly. "How did you get this streak? Did you just bleach it?"

"Nope, it's natural," Thalia said touching the lightning streak in her hair. "Dad always said when I was a baby I was nearly dropped one day and it scared the color out of my hair," She laughed. "It's some weird lack of pigment right here, I cut it all off once and it grew back exactly the same, so I guess I'm stuck with it," There was a spark there, Nico noticed, but he shrugged and settled against Percy watching him race Jason in some supped up automobile. He was content with his head against that shoulder even if Percy's arm kept jerking around as he made turns around the circuit. Nico didn't want to party tonight, he didn't care if it made him seem like some old person who never did anything, he wanted to lay in bed with Percy listening to music, reading, making-out, watching TV, ordering a pizza and finally going to bed. But Percy was a social creature, Nico couldn't keep him under a microscope, couldn't keep him in a glass cage it wouldn't be right. Besides, if he voiced how he wanted to stay in Percy would say it was just because he didn't want them hanging out with Calypso. Which wasn't exactly true, he had to give her a chance at least for Percy's sake.

"Hey, baby," Percy said not looking away from the screen. "Will you get me a Dr. Pepper out of the fridge? Please?" Laughing the dark haired youth kissed Percy's cheek and ducked under his view going over to their small refrigerator. He pulled out a Dr. Pepper and thought better of it.

"Anyone else want something while I'm over here?" He asked.

"I'm still working on this Mountain Dew," Thalia replied indicating the can in her hands and Rachel shook her head no.

"No thanks man," Jason said, tongue sticking out the side of his lips as Percy passed him on a straightaway. "Damn it! No you don't!" He laughed. Nico shook his head and smiled, then he cracked open Percy's drink and took a sip. He moved back over to the couch and settled into it, handing Percy the beverage.

"You're so good to me," He smiled and kissed Nico absently, still not turning away from the race.

"Yes, I know," Nico rolled his eyes and hooked his arm through the crook of his boyfriend's. The killed another thirty minutes before finally Jason took the victory and he smiled over his shoulder snidely. "Don't you dare," Percy glared.

"Don't I dare what? Do the winner dance?" Jason asked with a laugh. "Because I will, I will do a touchdown dance right now."

"Weren't you guys racing?" Nico questioned.

"Irrelevant." Jason laughed.

"Rematch! I call it right now, I had you on that last fucking turn, I didn't know you still had turbo left!" Percy exclaimed. Rachel cleared her throat and her and Thalia's quiet conversation seemed to cease all at once.

"Actually, Percy, it's about time to go," She said.

"We're not going to show up early, what kind of people show up to a college party early? The people who want to set up? Just one more round and we'll go," The brunet youth replied and Nico chuckled.

"He means if he wins then we'll go,"

"That's beside the point, babe," Percy smiled deviously.

"You guys go ahead and have one more round, I need to do my make-up anyway," Thalia said standing, a small clutch bag in her hands that Nico hadn't noticed before. "Come on Rachel, I've got some mascara that would look good on you," She smiled.

"I—uh, don't really do make-up," Rachel said, but Thalia grabbed her by the hand and with a pleading look the redhead was pulled off towards the bathroom.

"I've got hair gel too!" The boys heard Thalia remark and Percy and Nico were chuckling to themselves. Then Nico stood up and stretched as the door to the bathroom was closed and he kissed Percy on the cheek.

"I'm going to get changed too," He said. "Are you wearing that?" While Jason set up another game Percy looked down at his ensemble. Sweaty gym shorts and a dirty t-shirt with a pair of brown flip-flops; he shrugged.

"I don't see why not," He replied. "Should I change?" Nico smiled and pushed his lips against Percy's cheek again.

"I guess not, you look fine," He decided. "But I have got to get out of these jeans, I don't even know why I wear them, they're so uncomfortable."

"Because I like the way they make your butt look," Percy smiled.

"Oh, is that the only reason? Hell, I'll have to throw them away then," Nico laughed. "Jason, keep your eyes on the television,"

"Nico's shy," His boyfriend laughed. "He barely ever dressed out in gym,"

"Shut up Percy," Quickly Nico was out of his jeans which he promptly threw at Percy, then he was in his closet and he pulled down a pair of black, faux leather pants.

"Wait," Percy said, eyes torn between the game and Nico's sexy legs, his small rump jutting out just so from underneath the brim of his shirt. "You're taking off jeans and putting on leather pants?"

"Leather is comfortable," Nico said pushing a leg into the pants. "It breathes a lot more than people give it credit for," He pulled down an expensive looking lacy shirt that Sally had give him and he looked over it. Was Couture too much for a party? Nico didn't know, he didn't know anything about fashion to begin with but the shirt had small jewels sewn into it and sort of an Old English look to it around the shoulders and the hem of the arms. He sighed and pulled his other shirt off, then buttoned his new one over his thin chest. He felt Percy's eyes on him and cut his own gaze over to the boy. "What?"

"Nothing," Percy shrugged. "Just…maybe leather isn't so bad either," Nico looked down at his legs.

"It's not even real leather," He shrugged, but his boyfriend wasn't staring him in the face. "I really hate when you do that," Nico said feeling suddenly self-conscious, Percy rolled his eyes and motioned for the boy to come sit beside him.

"I don't see why," He said handing the controller to Nico. "Finish him off for me, I was a few laps ahead,"

"Shut up!" Jason said from the floor where he had scooted a lot closer to the screen as if it would give him an advantage. "I got turned around!"

"You were going the wrong way for like a lap and a half, how did that even happen?" Percy laughed.

"The track got confusing," Jason justified and Nico laughed and turn he face towards Percy for a second, then he wrinkled his nose a bit.

"Perce, babe, before we leave you should at least put on some body spray," He smirked. Percy rolled his eyes and got up off the couch, then he went to their dresser and opened it. Making an 'x' with the spray across his body the room suddenly smelled strongly of Axe. Collapsing beside Nico again he turned his eye to the screen and watched as the younger man crossed the finish line.

"Better?" He asked while Jason cursed from the floor.

"Better," Nico smiled and kissed him. Then the door opened to the bathroom and a glamorized Rachel Elizabeth Dare stepped into the room. She wrinkled her nose.

"I fucking hate that cologne," She said coming more out, Thalia was next behind her. Even in her simple short jean shorts and tank top she looked party ready. Her hair had been tamed and gelled down against her head, almost making her hair cut look professional, it was what some people called a "pixie cut" and it looked really rather nice on her. Rachel tried not to think too heavily about the gunk on her face, as much as she loved clothes she didn't care much for make-up, it always felt like she was wearing someone else's face. Luckily all Thalia had forced on her was a subtle brownish-red lipstick and a light pink eyeshadow, which when combined with the mascara that lined not only her eyes but the shell of her lips as well, gave her green eyes a smoky look she had wouldn't have been able to achieve on her own.

"I kind of like it," Thalia shrugged. "Alright, kiddies, let's get going because I'm ready to get my drink on."

* * *

Alpha Phi Theta knew how to throw a party, Percy knew that much. He hadn't planned on being so drunk only two hours into it but when people are doing vodka jello shooters and the winner gets a lei then you just have to participate. Percy had four leis around his neck, all several different colors. He had lost Nico somewhere in the mass of people, but the younger Italian boy was with Rachel and Thalia so he was bound to be fine. Besides, they were about to start a game of King's Cup and he felt he was needed at the card table. Taking a seat down he was quickly dealt a hand.

The object of King's Cup is to be able to place a card under the tab of a Rockstarr, which was a very alcoholic carbonated beverage. The person to pop the tab had to chug the entire thing, and it was a lot to drink at twenty-five ounces. But, Percy was feeling confident—or drunk, really they were the same thing. "Deal me in," A familiar voice said and he turned in the way that people who are inebriated turn, whole bodied and quickly. For a moment his vision swum but it was singular again quite soon and he was staring at Calypso.

"Callie!" He said boisterously and she smiled at him.

"Hiya, Perce," She laughed. "A little drunk?"

"I'm well on my way," Percy said, returning the chuckle. "You not been drinking? Why not?" He drew the words out and she laughed again.

"I have been," She said. "I'm just a quiet drunk, or people tell me." She shrugged then she was handed a hand of cards and the people around the table began. Percy slid a card easily under the tab and waited for his next turn, when it came again to him he did the same, and again and again till he was only holding a few cards in hand. They nearly had the entire deck under the cap and it looked fit to bursting, it came back to him and expertly—or, just in some amazing drunken luck—he got the card to fit. Then taking a swig of an acquired Budweiser he watched Calypso deftly push the card under the tab, but it didn't seem to be at all her fate for the game to continue because the drink popped and fizzed and cards went flying all over the table. "Shit!" She laughed.

Suddenly a chant took over the table which was infectious and spread to the a few of the students gathered around them, it was an old chant, juvenile really, but tried and true. It went like this, "Chug, chug, chug, chug, chug, chug, chug!" The crowd rallied and she stood up, grabbing the twenty-five ounce can and popped the tab off fully then throwing it back like an Irishman on his best day she drowned the entire thing in nearly three large gulps. Percy stared at her slack jawed as did most of the other people around them, then there was a loud cheer as she belched deeply.

"Holy shit," Percy slurred. "That was amazing,"

"It was nothing," The girl smiled near modestly, but her eyes were hazed over now and she was clearly drunk to Percy. People began clapping her on the back and she laughed and thanked them as another Rockstarr was set up for another round. "You wanna go somewhere else?" She asked and Percy nodded, he really wasn't in the mood to be just sitting there anymore. Finishing off his beer he left the can on the table and they stood.

"Let's get another drink!" He called to her a bit more loudly than necessary, but she just nodded and they made their way further into the antechamber of the dorm-house. Coming up to a pool table with a tarp over it Percy quickly grabbed a mixed drink, though he wasn't exactly sure what it was, though at this point he didn't really care what he drank. Callie grabbed a Pabst Blue Ribbon from one of the coolers on the ground and then grasped Percy by the wrist.

"Come on, there's a balcony this way," She said and they continued walking, passing couples and tons of other people Percy had seen on campus but never really talked to. He knew a good deal of them too, but it seemed his recognition skills were lacking. Then the cool air was hitting him and he found himself standing on a verandah at the back of the dorm-house. The music was now a dull thud when Callie closed the door, then they turned towards the railing and Percy laughed.

"Not much of a balcony," He said, holding onto the beam. "we're on the first floor."

"Yeah, well it's better than taking you up to the second or third floor and you falling over the side," Calypso laughed and she stood close to him. Percy thought she was warm, and she smelled nice. Like guava melon, it was probably her shampoo he decided. Girls were always using scented shampoos and it made them smell like fruit. As he thought why anyone would want to smell like a fruit he hardly noticed when the girl picked up his arms and placed it around her shoulders.

She was warm.

"Nico doesn't like me very much does he?" She asked and Percy stared blearily down at her, sipping his drink that decidedly had rum in it, and pineapple, vaguely he wondered if they made a shampoo that smelled like pineapples. Then he blinked hard.

"What?" He asked.

"I said, Nico doesn't like me very much does he?" Calypso asked again and she leaned her head against Percy's chest. "You smell good,"

"Thanks," Percy smiled. "You do too," Then he shrugged as best he could with her holding herself against him. "Nico just needs to warm up to you, he's not receptive with everybody, you just flew in the wrong way on his radar."

"Mm." The girl said. Then she looked up at him with her big, round eyes. "But you like me right, Percy? I flew in right on your radar?" He smiled wider.

"You did, just right." He replied. "You remind me a lot of my old girlfriend, Annabeth. God, she's beautiful, and really smart. She's going to be an architect, but I didn't want to be an architect, I didn't want to go to art school." Then he paused and took a drink. "I cheated on her, you know? I wasn't thinking about it, and Nico was struggling with his emotions and he looked so lonely, and I _was_ lonely." Another swallow. "It was good," He said. "Like, I always expected my first time be really bad, people always say it's really bad, but Nico was just so ready, and I was ready and it was amazing! It's still amazing," Calypso nodded.

"Why do you think he doesn't like me?" She asked.

"Because he's jealous of you," Percy said and shrugged, slurring rather badly now. "I dunno why, sure you're really hot but I love him, and he's hot too, y'know? Have you seen him? I've got naked pictures of him on my phone."

"I know," The girl laughed. "You told me that already." Then she pulled Percy's other arm around her waist and pulled him down. He was an inch away from her face.

"Hey," Percy smiled and hiccupped.

"Hi," She said.

"You are really pretty though," Percy admitted, searching her face. "I'm glad we're friends, Calypso. I told Nico you were a good person, he said he'd give you a chance," Calypso suddenly looked crestfallen and Percy cupped her face. "Hey, hey! Don't look like that, he's not all that scary. Actually he's a big baby if you get past his doom and gloom." A tear fell out of the girl's eyes and she blinked hard.

"Shut up, Percy, before I regret this anymore," She said.

"Wha—," Their lips were pressed together the next second, it was a drunken, harsh kiss and Percy leaned into it, his eyes fluttering closed. Calypso pulled back and the tall young man sobered up a bit from how hard their mouths had been pushed together, it sparked something in his mind that said there was something wrong. "What are you doing Callie?" He asked, his lips still ghosting over hers as he spoke. He couldn't remember how to pull away. She tasted like Pabst Blue Ribbon, a horrible beer, but on her lips it was sweet.

"Something I have to," She said kissing him hard again and she pushed his hand against her breasts, unconsciously Percy cupped and she moaned. "Fuck, Percy, I'm sorry," She said quietly and more tears fell out of her eyes. Percy was confused and not entirely sure what was going on, his head was trying to tell him to come to a full halt but his senses were dulled, his mind was felt askew as if it weren't set up properly, but he was coming into sobriety rapidly. Then all at once he pushed back and removed his hands.

He was hard, and his face was wet from her tears and all he could do was back up. "Calypso…" He said touching his lips.

"Fuck!" I'm sorry!" The girl yelled, her voice trembling. "I can't do this!" she screamed; and then she was gone, throwing open the door to the balcony that wasn't truly a balcony and running into the dorm-house. Percy head was reeling suddenly and he gripped onto the rail. What the fuck had just happened? Not three hours ago he was hanging out in his room, playing video games, getting ready for a kick ass party, and now he was unbelievably confused. He looked up when someone cleared their throat.

"What's going on?" Thalia asked, leaning against the doorjamb. "What'd you do to her?"

"She kissed me," Percy replied, his voice and mind both distant.


	27. Chapter 27

Maybe he was still a little drunk but Percy decided that the best thing to do that night was just not tell Nico at all. It had been a drunken mistake on Calypso's part and it wasn't like he had kissed her back or anything…had he? No, drunken mistake. He couldn't even remember it all that well, it had all happened too quickly, just her frenzied lips against his, tears dripping out of her eyes like leaky faucets. Why was she crying? Did she know it was wrong and she just went for it anyway? Did Calypso secretly harbor some sort of crush for him that he didn't know about. It was all mind boggling, something was very wrong here and he had to ask Calypso what was going on when he could find her again. "Here," Thalia handed him another Budweiser, he was sobering up for the most part but a little bit more alcohol would make his stomach settled down.

"Thanks," Percy said leaning against the wall. He put his head in his hand. "Goddamnit why me?" He asked nearly crushing the beer can. "Shit like this has been happening to me a lot recently, but most of the time my Dad's been behind it," He sighed. "Guess I'm making my own bad luck now,"

"It could still be your Dad," Thalia said, her brow furrowed. Percy shrugged.

"What? What would he have to do with this, this is all my fault, I've probably been leading her on all this time, God Nico was right."

"Percy…you didn't…you didn't feel anything when you were kissing her did you?" Thalia asked. "I don't know you, or Nico, or any of you really but if your group is the kind that passes partners around I don't think I want me or Jason hanging out in it," Percy blinked, was she playing the defensive older sister card right now? _Right_ now?

"No!" Percy exclaimed. "My God, no! I've already been through all this, I don't want to go through it again. I'm in love with Nico, Callie and I are just friends, what happened was just a mistake." He sighed and nearly slammed his head against the wall, squeezing his eyes shut.

"What was just a mistake?" Percy's eyes popped open at the sound of Nico's voice. The younger boy giggled and was suddenly pushing himself against Percy, hand flying under his shirt. Rachel came into view next.

"Sorry," She said with a look of annoyance. "He really is a pussy drinker, he had three shots of Patron and the next thing I knew his clothes were coming off, he's been asking for you for like twenty minutes, we couldn't find you."

"Sorry," Percy said averting his eyes, and suddenly Nico's lips were on his neck and guilt stabbed at his heart. "Nico—"

"Per-cy!" Nico interrupted, fingers grasping the waist of Percy's shorts. "Take me to that tree, please! I need you now," His tongue traced lazy patterns into Percy's clavicle. Percy turned his attention to Thalia who was giving him a hard stare, then she sighed and shrugged. Rachel did the same thing, but for a different reason.

"Is-is that what you want?" Percy asked, unsure what to do really. "I'll do whatever you want, baby." His insides felt like coils wrapped tightly together, knots bundled into tangled messes and suddenly he felt his eyes stinging. Nico kissed his lips and Percy tried to keep from shaking.

"Bathroom," The young Italian boy breathed against his face, breath heavy with alcohol. "I won't make it to the tree, I _need_ it Per-cy. I _need_ you." The taller young man felt his inebriated boyfriend grab his ass roughly. Taking him by the hand he led the smaller boy to the bathrooms where he found himself slammed against the door. Nico was grinning his dark, handsome grin and Percy sighed as the boy pulled his shirt over his head. It was best not to tell him, right? It had been a stupid, onetime thing and there was no need to start drama for no reason.

Suddenly his waistband was being assaulted, nearly ripped down and Nico's hands grasped him firmly, tugging warmly at his half-flaccidness. Percy grabbed Nico by the shoulders.

"Let me do you first," He said looking seriously down at the flush faced youth. The young Italian licked his lips and said something Percy didn't understand, then he slowly sunk to his knees and Percy grasped at the wall as he was swallowed near whole. He groaned, though not from being turned on, and again guilt warred inside of him with arousal. He couldn't let Nico do this to him, not after what had just happened. "Nico," He said pulling the boy back up by the arm, and suddenly his smaller boyfriend looked disappointed.

"Am I not doing it good? You're not even hard yet," Nico observed not looking up, still working at arousing Percy with his hands.

"I—I'm, uh, just not in the mood right now, baby," Percy shrugged. "I'll do you though, okay?" He wondered how long that excuse would work; most times he was begging Nico for sex , but the young man was inebriated and didn't seem to find anything strange about it.

"With your fingers then," Nico replied, swaying slightly against him, he smiled again. "and your mouth, at the same time." Percy nodded and watched Nico unzip his pants and it did incite feelings of lust in him but he just pulled his shorts back up before those thoughts could become concrete. The younger boy grabbed him by the hand and began to suck on two of his fingers erotically, moaning around them and all Percy could think was how could he have led Calypso on? He thought he had made it perfectly clear that he and his boyfriend were quite happy, that he loved him. But, apparently he hadn't driven the point home enough. "Per-cy," Nico said, bringing him back. The young man had slicked his fingers down. "Did I do something wrong?" Nico asked in a drunken slur, his big, honest brown eyes looking hurt. Percy kissed him.

"No, baby, no." He said. "You don't ever do anything wrong, I'm sorry I was just thinking," Nico took his fingers into his mouth again and offhandedly Percy smiled, then with his other hand he switched their positions, pushing Nico against the wall. The younger man pulled his own pants down and not to Percy's surprise he was erect. Sinking to his knees he knees he brought his saliva slicked fingers around and he gingerly probed Nico's entrance then he took the boy deep down into his mouth.

He was probably doing a lackluster job as his fingers stretched his young lover's insiders, searching for the elusive prostate because his mind was still wandering but Nico didn't seem to notice, his hands locked into Percy's hair and the kneeling young man felt another wave of guilt rush him. He loved Nico, not like he had loved Annabeth nearly a year ago, he loved Nico in a way that was full encompassing and whole heartedly whereas he had loved the blonde girl in that boyish manner that teenagers say they love one another. What he felt for Nico couldn't properly be described in any language , and sure he teased him and messed with him but that was just because he so enjoyed seeing that pouty look come over the boy's otherwise solemn face. He felt horrible, his lips belonged to Nico and he had been kissing someone else.

No, he told himself again, he hadn't kissed her back; but he didn't even know anymore. The problem was he knew Nico would forgive him, all he had to do was ask, all he had to do was tell him how it had been a mistake, but he couldn't tell him just yet he had to resolve things with Calypso first. Then he would work his ass off never to feel so shitty again and to let Nico know everyday just how much he loved him.

"Oh, God! Oh, fuck, Percy I'm gonna—!" Swallowing deeply Percy took Nico's spurious load and the boy didn't move for a long second, then he pulled Percy's fingers out of him and he slid down the wall, smiling widely. He pulled Percy between his legs and kissed him. "Mm." He said kissing Percy again. "Don't you want to fuck me, Percy?" He asked, kissing the side of his face. "Please?" If Nico weren't drunk he would not have pushed the issue, Percy knew that, in fact Nico normally didn't ask for sex at all, if he wanted it he let Percy know and he had never once needed to ask more than once.

"I—" Percy bit his lip. "Yeah, okay," Nico made an excited sound that was suspiciously close to a squeal and Percy kissed him hard finding the boy pulling his gym shorts down again.

"I really like when you wear these," Nico said when he pulled back. "I wouldn't say it out loud but they're sexy," The boy grinned putting a finger to his lips. "Shh! Don't tell you I told you though, okay?" He giggled. He was adorable when he was drunk, Percy couldn't hurt him, not again. Not like he had at the beginning of their relationship. They had become a strong couple, their anniversary was coming up in less than three months and he fully planned on seeing it and many more. "You know what else I wouldn't tell you?" Nico asked blinking his half-lidded eyes slowly. "I like the no clothes rule, and I like when you get rough with me, and I like it when you're not like it when you take it slow with me." The young man kissed his neck. "I just love everything you do Percy, you're so fucking perfect and I love you."

"I'm not perfect Nico," Percy replied, pushing slowly into the youth.

"Yes—yes you are! Listen to me Percy, you're perfect," Nico nearly cried. "Me though? I'm still just waiting for you to wise up and go back to—to girls," Then he squeezed his eyes shut. "Right there! Ah!" His breath hitched in Percy's ear, and Percy nearly cried himself, he felt hot tears and bit them back.

"Shh," He shushed, voice thick with emotion. "Just let me love you, Nico,"

* * *

"I didn't ask what you couldn't do!" Triton's voice echoed through dark open campus. "Your job isn't to kiss him and run away your job is to fuck him stupid!" The autumn air had lost it's warmth ultimately to winter and soon enough it would be Spring. Calypso was cold, she was cold and she sick to her stomach. "I don't care if you suddenly can't stand the sight of yourself! I don't give a shit about any of that bull crap, Calypso, because we made a deal!"

"What about that big guy? What did you make with him, huh? All he has to do is fucking be friendly!" Calypso shouted back and suddenly Triton's eyes were hard on her and he was advancing against her, she stepped back and he stepped forward till she was pushed against the side of the Digital Media building and she had nowhere to go.

"He's a faggot," Triton growled. "You break Nico's heart and he'll go crawling to him, they'll fuck and live happily ever after, that's how that shit works."

"God! You're sick!" Calypso shouted.

"And you're a fucking slut; you think I care what you have to say about me? You just make sure you do what I fucking tell you to do, understand?" Then to illustrate his point he punched the wall beside her head hard enough to send a loud thud into her ear. Calypso jumped and he smiled. "Understand?"

"Yes," She nodded slowly. "Yes, I understand."

"Good. Now, how's about you suck my dick?"

* * *

Morning time was a bitch, Nico was pretty sure the morning was brightened several times from its normal luminosity by God as some sort of divine punishment for something he did in a past life. There were several things he was wondering about firstly: what the hell was the that pounding he was hearing? It was like someone was jack hammering against the inside of his head. Two—and this one was a bit less immediate: how the hell did he get back into his room? He stretched and groaned and realized that something was wrong. Percy wasn't in bed beside him. Sitting up as best he could the world felt like it was spinning out of control and he felt the need to release whatever was in his stomach, which growled and he knew it to be empty. Then why did he feel like he was going to throw up his entire week's lunch? He groaned again as the pounding grew more insistent and he realized someone was knocking on the door. The toilet flushed and the bathroom door opened, Percy stepped out of the restroom in naught but a pair of briefs and a toothbrush in his mouth and even with the horrid feeling of death upon him Nico couldn't help but smile. Percy gave him a small grin back and came over to the bed, kissing the side of his forehead.

"How're you feeling?" He asked softly.

"Would you do me the favor of a mercy killing?" Nico asked and Percy chuckled softly in his ear.

"I wouldn't be able to live without you," Was the reply. "I'll send whoever's at the door away and get you some aspirin, then you can sleep in for a few more hours but we've got a photo shoot with Gilliam today."

"Ugh!" Nico groaned, then he felt his stomach lurch, he clapped a hand over his mouth and pushed past Percy to get to the bathroom. The toilet seat was up thankfully thanks to Percy's lack of bathroom etiquette and Nico threw up what he guessed was his breakfast from the day previous, it couldn't have been anything else because there were eggs in the commode. "Ugh…" He groaned again and his head lolled.

"You look like death," Rachel smiled at him from the doorway.

"I feel like death," He replied, then he spied the bag in her hands. "McDonald's?" He asked feeling his stomach lurch again. "You're trying to kill me,"

"No, if I wanted to do that you'd already be dead," The girl smiled. "The mix of caffeine and salt'll make you feel better, I got you a Big Mac." Then she grinned wider. "You really can't hold your drinks."

"I'm Italian! We drink wine not liquor," Nico complained. "You're all bad influences,"

"Says the naked kid with his head in the toilet," Rachel laughed. Nico realized, albeit it too late, that he was indeed very naked and if the alcohol in his system hadn't been so insistent on purging itself out he might have had the decency to blush, instead he threw up again. "Yeah, you and Percy were going at it pretty hard last night, finally when they kicked you guys out for taking the only bathroom on the first floor, you were pretty belligerent."

"Oh, God," Nico said, his head swooning. "What did I do?"

"I believe your exact words were "fuck you my boyfriend can kick all your asses," or something to that effect," She grinned. "Of course, Percy was trying very hard to apologize for you, he explained that you didn't normally drink. They all thought it was hilarious so there's no need to feel embarrassed, I think you made a couple of new friends with the varsity wrestling team."

"I don't even know if you're being serious," Nico replied.

"What? About the belligerent part, or the friend part? They're both true," She laughed. "They want Percy to try out, and you said something about how he was especially good at pinning you down…I'm sure your father would have been proud."

"Go away," Nico said, his head on the toilet seat. "Or at least spare me my dignity and send Percy in here with some clothes," The girl stepped away and a moment later Percy brought him a bathrobe.

"Here," He said and Nico pulled it on. "Sorry, I didn't think she'd come in."

"It's Rachel, we're lucky she doesn't have a key," Nico said and stood shakily with help from Percy. Then he flushed away his sick and walked back into their room. "I said I wasn't going to drink," He complained. "Why did you let me drink?"

"They were really small shots, I didn't think you'd get that drunk," Rachel laughed. "Anyway, I brought you some coffee by to go with your burger, the beans are darker and they give it a richer taste, I think you'll like this kind." She smiled. "It's sweetened like I like it so you'll be feeling better in no time."

"I just want to go to sleep," Nico said, leaning against Percy. "Can't we cancel the photo shoot? I don't even want to be a model." The taller brunet looked conflicted but put an arm around Nico's waist.

"I'll call Mom and see," He said, the smaller young man patted his hand.

"No, no. It's okay, I don't want to let Sally down, besides Alexander picked us right? And she works for him, so that might look bad on her part." He sighed and Rachel handed him the food and the coffee.

"Thalia and I are going out, just thought I'd stop by and give you this, Percy there's food in there for you too, now, what do you say?"

"Thank you, Rachel," They chorused and she grinned.

"I'll be back later, maybe I'll head to this shoot with you guys, I want to make sure you don't get raped or something, from the stories I've heard about Alexander Keaton and Gilliam they sound like predators."

"Don't worry; they're pretty together right now so everyone else is off the market for them, besides they've never _raped_ anyone before." Percy said. "That's a bit extreme." Rachel shrugged.

"Still," She said. "Plus I might carry one of my portraits with me and accidentally leave it in the studio with my name and phone number on it." Then she went to the door. "Bye guys, Percy don't try anything while Nico's hungover, that can only end badly." Then she opened the door. "Oh, and I talked to Callie for a little while at the party last night, you're right she's not so bad. Sorry I misjudged her," Nico didn't see the look come over Percy's face, it spoke leagues of guilt and betrayal and because Rachel had turned away she had missed it too. "Bye!" She said again cheerily and closed the door.

"You guys are all drunkards," Nico said digging into the bag and experimentally taking a bite of fries, he found that they were really good. They tasted amazing in fact and his stomach didn't want to expel them so suddenly, in fact it calmed down slightly. "I don't see how you all drink so much and never get hungover," Percy chuckled dryly.

"Babe, I've been hungover," He replied. "I've been so drunk before that when I passed out and woke up again I was still drunk, that's no fun," Then he kissed Nico on top of his head. "I love you so much."

Nico smiled through his head's throbbing, "I love you too," He replied and was happy to feel Percy kiss his cheek chastely. "Here, get your burger, if I know you you're starving." But Percy just held fast to him, kissing him all over. "Percy!" Nico laughed and suddenly regretted it. "Ow!" He held his head. "No, we're not going to do it right now."

"I know, I just want to hold you," Percy replied, then he swept Nico's feet out from underneath him and the boy clung to his neck. Percy walked them over to the couch and settled them there, Nico in his lap.

"I'm not kissing you," Nico said sternly "I just puked like five minutes ago and I haven't brushed my teeth yet." The look he received made him blink, Percy was staring at him quite seriously. "Are you okay? If it's that big a deal I can go brush my teeth real quick."

"No, it's not that," Percy said and he sighed pulling Nico against his chest. "I'm just thinking about how wonderful you are, don't worry about it." The younger man felt taken aback, his heart—the only organ in him that didn't hate him at the moment for last night's drinking—gushed.

"Percy," He said with a small smile, thankful the blinds had been drawn because he knew anymore sunlight would have pierced his brain. "You're just—I love you, if you start being so mushy then I'm going to start too and I'll say something stupid and embarrassing and you're going to make fun of me later." He kissed Percy's cheek. "There, a kiss, now stop all the lovey-dovey stuff so early in the morning because I can't have sex with you right now and I'm pretty sure that if you said anything else we'd end up in bed regardless of how my head was feeling." Then Percy's arms tightened around him and the other boy just opted to stay quiet, instead turning the television on. Nico settled against him. "You want me to feed you your hamburger?"

Percy smiled absently, "Not this time, I think I got it," He said reaching into the bag. "You can feed me some other time if you want to though."

"I'll keep it in mind," Nico smiled, eating more fries and sipping his coffee, his head nearly spun on his shoulders. "Damn!" He said, eyes widening with delight. "Where does she keep getting stuff like this from, taste this," Percy did and he licked his lips. "S'good right? Is she like some Columbian drug lord with a coffee business to cover up her cocaine dealing?"

"With Rachel I wouldn't be surprised," Percy chuckled in his ear; not much later they were done eating and it seemed that with a full stomach and with his blood full of caffeine Nico couldn't keep his eyes open - which he thought was strange considering, but he yawned heavily and sunk into Percy's warmth. He fell asleep in his lap and Percy just rocked him in his arms. Nico truly _was_ amazing the taller brunet thought and he held him firm, absently watching television; he was very aware of the conflict going on inside of him again, he wanted to lay Nico against the couch, go to his phone, call Calypso and scream at her for what she had done, but at the same time he wanted to get his phone, call her and apologize for leading her on. The latter would have probably been better, he decided, but he would still do it later. There was no point in yelling and screaming about something that wasn't really _that_ big a deal, he felt like he had betrayed Nico sure, but he knew the boy would not be incredibly upset over a kiss. Percy would have to kiss ass for a little while and he was fine with that as long as Nico forgave him. Still it was eating him up.

Then his phone really did ring and he set his boyfriend down gently on the couch to go get it. He nearly cursed when he saw the name on the screen and he flipped it open, "Alex…did my Mom give you my number?" Percy asked.

" _That's neither here nor there, Perseus,_ " Alexander answered him. " _And you're supposed to say hello when a friend calls, hello Perseus, hello_!"

"Hi, Alex," Percy replied.

" _Good, now sweetie I was just calling to remind you that we're doing a shoot, it's in Soho at_ —"

"At four, I know, Mom called this morning and told me," Percy said. "We'll be there."

" _I'm so glad we finally got you!_ " Alex laughed. " _You'll love modeling, honey, just hold your head this way and pout a little and we'll be golden_." Someone said something on the other end of the line. _"Oh, Gilly wants to talk to you,_ "

"Yeah, okay, put him on," Percy said.

" _Hullo? Perseus?_ " Gilliam du Gilliam asked into the speaker and Percy greeted him. Gilliam was actually named William Turnstone and was originally from Hastings, but in the industry it was all about your name, it was your calling card and held all your reputation in it and a name like Will Turnstone just did not incite the same awe that a name like Gilliam du Gilliam.

"Hi Gill," Percy replied. "We'll be there like I told Alexander, I promise."

" _I know you will, Perseus, but that's not what I wanted to say_ ," Gilliam asserted. " _My dear Alexander is mistaken when he says all you need to do is look pouty, no, that's not right at all. I want you boys to_ feel _your clothing, spiritually. I want you both to become one with these designs, become a part of them._ "

"I—uh, we'll do our best," Percy said, trying not to laugh.

" _That's all I can ask, Mr. Jackson,_ " Gill replied. " _When you get to the building my assistant will be outside to show you where we'll be doing the shooting. He's a ginger chap so he should be easy enough to spot_ ,"

"Alright, Gill, we'll see you then," Percy thought about it and added, "and thanks for the opportunity."

" _Not at all, dear boy_ ," Gill said. " _Good-bye_ ," Before Percy could answer the line went silent and he shook his head. Gilliam and Alexander were obviously from different planets, or, at least he would like to believe they were. Gill taking everything he did so seriously and Alexander not taking things serious enough unless they were fashionable. Percy sighed and went to pick Nico up off of the couch and for a moment he just hugged his head against his chest.

Nico was his everything.

Putting the sleeping boy into bed and crawled in beside him, cradling the Italian teen. Percy was scared, he was nearly frightened. He was afraid he would disappoint Nico, that alone made him want to shake to his very core. Disappointing Nico was the worst possible thing he could think of at this point in his life. Forget not passing any classes, forget flunking out of school, he couldn't take that look that was sure to be in his boyfriend's eyes. Percy yawned and pulled the blankets around them then he fell asleep quickly behind Nico. Percy slept a dreamless sleep in immeasurable time, it was the kind of sleeping wherein you were only on stasis, a body at rest without consciousness but still aware of itself. In this state he could feel the softness of his sheets, he could hear the shallow breathing of the wondrous boy in his arms, his warmth all encompassing like a lover's should be, and though his mind was at rest a part of him extended itself into Nico, trying to radiate desperately how much he loved him. This left Percy more tired than the sleep could replenish and he found himself growing steadily fatigued. Then the thought formed, it was urgent and began like a harsh echoing klaxon: _tell him!_ It screamed, piercing him like a blade's tip.

Percy bolted upright, his head swimming and a small sheen of sweat gathered on his brow and chest. His eyes darted back and forth for a moment as the klaxon's ringing broke something inside of him. Then he realized it wasn't a klaxon at all, his phone was going off. He reached over Nico's still sleeping form and looked at the screen of it, it was his mother. It was also nearly three o'clock. They had fallen back to sleep at ten thirty. He sighed and pushed his legs over the side of the bed, then leaning forward with his elbows on his thighs he held the phone to his ear and answered it. "Hey, Mom," He said, his voice thick with sleep.

" _Hi, baby,_ " Sally returned, he could hear the smile in her voice. " _I'm going to guess Alex has called you already right_?"

"Yes ma'am, though I do remember asking you not to give him my number."

" _Oh I had to, dear, he kept calling and asking me when you were free, I thought it would be best if he got the information straight from the horse's mouth_." She laughed and Percy sighed. " _Anyway, if I know you boys you haven't started getting ready yet, make sure to shower Perseus, warm water and soap, and put deodorant on. I know Nico has his hands full trying to keep you hygienic_."

"We'll make sure to shower," Percy said with a small smile.

" _No, no. I know your showers together; it's a lot of kissing and not a lot of washing. Separate showers, Perce, unless you can keep your priorities straight_."

"Yes ma'am," He chuckled.

" _Last I talked to Gilliam he was in a good mood so you boys should be alright he probably won't put Nico through any strenuous trauma but just in case I can stop in if you want me to_?"

"That's up to you Mom, it'd be nice to see you."

" _Aw, baby_ ," Sally gushed. " _Well, I have been meaning to fill your refrigerator back up and to take you boys shopping. Do you need any new clothes yet? You haven't been home in a week Percy, do you need to wash clothes? Oh, I know you can both come have dinner here tonight, it's the weekend you can stay, it's nice and quiet here so you can both study_ —"

"Mom!" Percy said still chuckling. "That all sounds fine, we'll come by after we get done with our torture."

" _Hey, I warned you sweetie_ ," Sally said. " _Oh, and another thing, Odysseus stopped by the other day, I meant to call you, he says he needs to talk to you about something but he wouldn't tell me what it was. He'll probably be back around in a few days, I think he's been stopping by periodically looking for you_." Percy thought about the little boy who looked like him with green eyes.

"Alright, did he leave a number or anything?"

" _No, but he probably lives with your father if you're really intent on getting in touch with him_."

"I can wait," Percy said, if he called his Dad's house he would have to suffer through actually talking to the man. "Well then I guess we'll start getting ready, I'll get Nico up."

" _You guys are asleep? I swear, teenagers, it's nearly three hours past noon_!"

"I know Mom, we were up all night—"

" _Studying, I'm sure_ ," Sally interrupted. " _Well, sweetie, you start getting ready and make sure to get there before four o'clock_."

"Yes ma'am, love you."

" _Love you more_ ," Sally said " _Bye_ ," Then the line clicked and Percy closed his phone. He sighed and stood.

"Have I ever told you that buying briefs was probably the best idea either of us has ever had?" Nico asked groggily, eyes roving over Percy's body and the brunet youth gave a smile. He climbed back onto the bed and gathered Nico up into his arms.

"You're talkative when you're drunk," Percy said.

"I know, I swear I'm never drinking again."

"Yeah, like I'll let that happen," But in Percy's mind that didn't sound like such a bad idea.

"I do vaguely remember when you took me to the bathroom," Nico said. "Sorry if I was a little clingy."

"No, I like clingy you." The slighter youth leaned up and kissed him and Percy's mind was reeling. He had to tell him. ' _But_ ,' A part of his mind thought, ' _first I have to confront Callie_.' With one last peck of the lips he laid Nico back down on the bed and the boy stared up at him expectantly. Percy bit his lip. "I'm gonna grab a shower," He said, Nico smiled.

"I'll join you," He had _just_ promised his Mom they'd shower separately, but she knew he couldn't do that after he had gone through such lengths to get Nico to let him even see him fully nude.

"Mom said we have to actually get clean this time," Percy smiled. "Something about manners or something, I don't know."

"Hey, I've been telling you that all along, thankfully I sneak in little showers when you're passed out in your long ass sex-comas." Percy watched as Nico unshouldered his bathrobe, sweet, delicate looking skin presented itself in the afternoon light of their small dorm room and he held back the urge to touch him. If he touched him he would be sorely reminded of his new guilt, but Nico grinned over his shoulder. "You wash my back and I'll wash yours,"

"Deal," Percy returned and Nico leaned into him, he put caution to the wind and squeezed the boy's bottom.

"Don't start something we don't have time to finish," Nico warned, laying his head against Percy's shoulder. "I don't even care if we're late to this thing so be careful."

"Careful is my middle name," Percy smirked. "But we do have to be there, Mom said she was coming." Nodding the younger man began walking forward again and made his way into the bathroom, the sound of running water filled the small room. "Go ahead and get started, I've got to piss," Percy said and Nico stepped into the shower.

* * *

When they were both cleaned properly and ready to go, and then subsequently refraining from ripping clothes off of one another, they finally piled into Percy's car with Rachel Elizabeth Dare riding shotgun.

"It'd be nice to sit up front with my boyfriend every now and then," Nico complained from the backseat.

"I'm sure it would be," Rachel smirked, Percy remained quiet as he turned the car over and they made their way to the studio in Soho. When they arrived it was nearly three fifty-eight. Percy parked.

"Gilliam said he had a ginger assistant waiting outside for us, anyone know what a ginger assistant is?" He asked looking around.

"A redhead, Perce," Rachel said, flicking her hair over her shoulder, then she pulled her bug-eyed sunglassed down from her face. "I don't believe it." She said looking forward. Nico followed her gaze and then he smiled widely.

"You guys are almost late,"

"Aaron?"

"At your service," The redhead smiled handsomely. His hair was in a Mohawk now, the sides shaved down leaving one long, spiky strip that shot upward. "Come on guys before Gilliam gets upset."

"But, Aaron, why're you—"

"Later," Aaron smiled, all of his piercing looking as if they had just been freshly polished. "Let's go."


	28. Chapter 28

"Are you going to tell us what you're doing here, Aaron?" Nico chuckled as they entered Gilliam's studio. The redhead, who smiled over his shoulder at them, simply shrugged and continued clopping forward in his thigh high heeled leather boots.

"I'm a Photography major," He explained. "I'm apprenticing under Gilliam du Gilliam, do you know how big a career boost that's going to be? Then when I heard that he was going to be shooting some new boy named Nico today I hoped against hope it was you two." There was a voice in the headset attached to Aaron's ear and he clicked the callback button and spoke to it. "Yes, Mr. Gilliam, they're here, yes sir I have alerted them that they are minutes away from being late. Yes, sir I will tell them that it is proper decorum for a model to be at least an hour early for hair and make-up. A mocha frappe with a drip, sir? I'll get right on it, does Mr. Keaton want anything? Of course, I'm sorry, I forgot he was dieting." The boy tried to stifle a grin. "Yes, sir, I'll send them right in." Then he clicked the side of the headset again and he stopped, turning on his four inch heels. "You guys got all that right?"

"I didn't know we were supposed to be an hour early," Nico said.

"You're not, normally, but this is Gilliam he's…eccentric about these sorts of things," Aaron answered. "Anyway, I have to make a Starbuck's run really quickly, tell him that traffic was bad, apologize right off the bat, if you stick to modeling you'll get a lot more pull about when the shoots take place, but till then it's the photographer's call." Then he checked a few things on his clipboard. "Hair and make-up should take about fifteen minutes really, then getting you into Alex's clothes should take another thirty—that's why he likes you to be here early—you're not scheduled for runway, why's that?"

"Sally didn't think we could do that," Nico told him. "I agreed, we're not even really supposed to be here, this was just a joke between me and Percy and his Mom." A look passed over the redhead's face, it was a quick dark look that none of them had ever seen before.

"Not supposed to—a joke?" Aaron paused, and then he leaned forward and very quickly whispered, "Do you guys realize what this is? Who these people are? You know Chanel? Prada? Gucci? Armani? Dior? Well, those are just the tips of the iceberg for who these people work for, Alexander's designs have been featured in some of the biggest magazines in the industry, and Gilliam is a _world renowned_ photographer. I had to work like a dog to get to this point; I started out sweeping this studio almost two years ago! There are men and women out there who have killed for less than the opportunity you've got! Both of you!" There was a voice in his ear again and he sighed, then clicked the receive button. "I'm on my way now, sir, they should be walking through the door." As he said this he shuffled them through a set of open double doors, then he held onto the speaker of his headset and said to them, "You'll do great, just remember that this is a big opportunity, Gilliam will continuously remind you of that." He clicked his headset and set to hugs and high-fives. "I'll see you guys later," Then, like a speedy red bullet dressed in designer clothing and leather heels he made his way towards the door.

When they walked into the room immediately they were assaulted by reds, whites, and greens, the colors of winter and fall. With Aaron momentarily away the atmosphere lost its friendly vibe, instead suddenly they were left with the feeling of being in a room full of overly sophisticated socialites and entrepreneurs, they felt lower than low. Then, as if by magic, a very short man appeared in front of them. He was probably five-three on a good day, rail thin, and bald, except for the soul patch growing just beneath his lip, it was a very light brown color. He wore black rectangular glasses which held a pair of harsh blue-green eyes that were glaring at all three young people. He had to be nearing fifty, if not sixty, but he had a purely bohemian look to him with his Dolce and Gabbana scarf wrapped loosely around his thin shoulders. In one hand he held a very expensive looking Nikon camera; the other was placed very sternly against his hip. He was wearing a strangely patterned shirt, tens of twenties of colors moving all throughout in jagged wavy lines, and his skin tight leather pants looked not like they were painted on but like he had been born into them. Nico noticed the jewelry lining both the hand with the camera and the one against the man's hip, diamonds of every color imaginable graced all ten digits, and silver and platinum brocades hung from his wrists. His aged, but unlined, face was set in a frown and finally after a few moments of leering he cleared his throat.

"You're late," He said matter-of-factly in an accent that had been filtered through many different languages and regions throughout the world. It still held its heavy English regard but having learned several different tongues he sounded more International than English, as if he could have come from anywhere.

"We're not late, Gill," Percy said, the only one of the three to have ever personally have met Gilliam du Gilliam. The man considered that, he looked at the golden watch on his right wrist and made a clicking sound with his tongue against his teeth.

"You're right," He spoke pensively, his eyes following the second's hand as he counted and then said, "…now you're late." He turned his gaze to Nico. "This is a place of business, young man, being late is a dock of not only pay but frames as well," When Nico gave him a blank expression color flooded into Gilliam's cheeks. "You do not care?"

Then Nico blinked and he suddenly remembered Aaron's warning, "Oh, God, Mr. Gilliam I'm _so_ sorry," He said trying to look frantic. "Traffic was murder, I was trying desperately to get here on time, I know a man such as yourself, a world renowned photographer—quite possibly the greatest one in existence, would understand?" Gilliam's eyes lit up at that and a small smile graced his aged features.

"Yes, well, maybe I'm being a little harsh, it's your first time here and whatnot," Then the smile fell from his lips and his eyes became stern. "Be that as it may, I expect you and Perseus on time henceforth, am I understood?" Nico nodded, and he figured Percy was as well. The old photographer crossed his arms. "Go get your hair and make-up done over there, the kiosk with the lighting and the chairs," He pointed and Nico followed his finger, there was a stage being built in the middle of the room, but across from that there was a small enclave made up with a camera sitting in front of it. There were lighting umbrellas set around it, helping to bring up an ethereal glow around the entire place, and a long sheet of white sat suspended in the air on a wire as a backdrop. Small Christmas trees were decorated all along with different bows and tinsel and ornaments, Nico continued to look and finally saw a few chairs with vanities in front of them. There were a few stragglers left, all incredibly beautiful sort of people even from so far away he could see that.

"Gilliam?" He asked and he saw that Gilliam had turned away and begun speaking with someone else, he tapped the man on the shoulder and received a slow glare as he spun around.

"May I help you? Why are you still here, I told you to get to make-up half an hour ago."

"Hey, it wasn't even two minutes," Percy said, putting a protective arm around Nico. "What's wrong, baby?" The photographer's eyes grew wider and he smiled.

"So it's true?" He asked. "Percy Jackson you have arrived,"

"Arrived?"

"Well, not arrived, I suppose I should say you're…what did Alex call it? Playing for a new team," Gill examined his nails. "I'm really not surprised, he's very handsome."

"What I have with Nico isn't about how he looks, or how I look, I like Nico for who he is," Percy said, pulling the shorter brunet close to him, wrapping his other arm around him. "And he likes me for me."

"As pretty as that is," Gill replied. "I'm not only an artist; I'm a realist, but I can't tell you how you feel I suppose," He shrugged about to return to his conversation, then he opened his mouth again, "What did you want, young man?"

Nico thought about asking if he was really supposed to be there, he didn't look anything like those people sitting across the way. In fact, he was plain looking, there was nothing interesting or model like about him. Models were art, and he wasn't art, he didn't feel like some overwhelming movement that inspired some uplifting emotion. "Nothing," He said in a small voice. "I'm sorry, it was nothing." Gilliam gave him a once over and then motioned over the make-up booth one last time.

"And while your over there tell my dear Alexander I need him." Then the old photographer looked around. "Where is that coffee boy?" Percy grabbed Nico's hand and he pulled him away, Rachel in tow behind them.

"Geez," The redheaded girl said. "That guy's kind of…"

"A tyrant?" Percy asked. "Yeah, that's how my Mom describes him, he was being a lot more tame than he normally is, I think it's cause he thought Nico might be nervous,"

"I am nervous," Nico replied. "I shouldn't be here," He didn't mean it in the same sense that he didn't _want_ to be picked. It fell into place in his mind that being a model meant being photographed, and he wasn't very photogenic. Not in his opinion anyway. Alexander had gotten it wrong, sure Percy put up with his looks, but the women and men sitting down across from him now that they had made it to the booth looked like movie stars, like they had been born in front of a camera.

"What, why?" Percy asked, grabbing Nico by the shoulders as he sat down and he began massaging them. Nico noticed that Percy had been incredibly loving the entire day and it made him feel really very warm inside, he and Percy needed some alone time soon, he decided. Then he explained his new affliction knowing that it was silly to feel such a way, but he couldn't tell his mind to stop thinking such things. He wasn't a naturally confident individual; he figured he had established that much so far with his friends. "Nico," Percy said with a smile. "You're going to do great; I have the utmost faith in you."

"But I—" Nico said.

"No buts," Percy replied. "Stay here, I have to go get Alexander, Gilliam doesn't care if he bites my head off he knows he can't scare me."

"That's why he likes you," Alexander's voice made Nico jump and he looked behind him, standing there was the designer and Sally. "You fight back with him, most everyone else just cowers in fear. Besides me, of course, honey, he likes it when I fight back." The graying man smiled widely.

"Really, Alex, no one needs to know these things," Sally sighed. "Hi, guys," She smiled at them.

"Hey, Sally," Rachel said. "Nico's being a downer again, I'm really starting to think he just wants us to pump his ego, I suspect it's as large as Percy's and he just hides it well." Nico found himself glaring at the girl. "Okay, well, maybe not quite as big as Percy's ego, I'm surprised it fits in most rooms."

"You got two birds in one stone with that one," Percy said with a small smile, clapping the girl on the back. "Why don't you go get that painting you brought with us and inconspicuously set it up against a wall?" Rachel laughed and gave him a slight shove.

"I might just do that, and Nico perk up, I swear." Then she stuck her tongue out at him and winked and Nico couldn't help but smile a bit at her. She was a good friend. Skipping off slightly she gave Sally a high-five as she passed. "Oh, uh, Alexander, that Gilliam guy is looking for you."

"Gilly?" Alex asked with a grin. "He just can't keep his hands off of me,"

"Just go, Alex." Sally shook her head with a chuckle. "Just go." They lost another person as Alexander walked away. "Nico, hun, if you're not comfortable with this I can get you out of it, it'll be hard to find another model to replace you on the spot but I don't care to do it."

"No, that's not it," Nico said, feeling dumb for his sudden doubts. He took a deep breath. "I'll be fine, they're you're clothes right?"

"Some of them are my designs, yes." Sally smiled. "Mostly the vests and the button downs, a few of the coats, Alex is a fan of slacks, he likes to make them look sleek and seamless, he's even made a few that you don't have to iron. It's all very boring really to explain."

"Well, if they're your clothes I'll wear them, it's the least I can do, and I'm just being dumb." He shrugged. Sally kissed his forehead.

"You're not being dumb, sweetheart, I don't like that kind of talk remember?" Nico nodded and she smiled sweetly at him. "Now, I'm going to go find your make-up artist, it won't take too long, just a touch up, then we'll get you into a few things and you guys can get out of here, I know there are other things you'd prefer to do with your Saturday."

"Just each other, Mom," Percy grinned and his mother rolled her eyes.

"It's Paul you get that from," She said. "He's perverted my child, there's just no getting around that." Then she ruffled his hair and kissed his cheek. "I'll be back in a minute." With a step she was indeed gone. Percy took his young boyfriend's hand and rubbed his thumb across the boy's knuckles.

"You still don't realize how sexy you are, do you?" Percy asked and Nico rolled his eyes, then the older teen turned Nico towards the mirror across from the chair. "Look, look at you." Nico looked at himself in the mirror. He didn't see anything that wasn't normally there, a scrawny kid with a full head of hair and a weird looking smile, beside him though was a beautiful boy with ocean blue eyes and the sweetest tasting lips. "What do you see?"

"You." Nico replied and Percy chuckled.

"Don't look at me, look at you," Then the lighter brunet grabbed him by the chin. "Look at you, you're gorgeous Nico." Nico looked, rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

"This is stupid Percy, I know _you_ like me, and you have to say that you're my boyfriend,"

"That doesn't make it any less true," Then the older teen kissed the side of his cheek. "You know I don't say things just to hear myself talk. You're always building everyone else up, telling everyone else how great they are, and how they can come to you for help if they need anything. Well I'm telling you right now that you're gorgeous, inside and out, there is nothing about you that I don't admire and love, Nico, so when I say you're going to do fine I mean you're going to do fine."

"Ooh, pep talk, am I just on time?" Aaron smiled over Nico's shoulder and he had to blink at the thin redhead, not exactly sure how he had snuck up on him when he had been staring in the mirror. Well, truthfully he had been staring at Percy which might have had something to do with it. He could never get tired of staring at his boyfriend.

"You are actually, I'm telling Nico how wonderful he is and how he'll blow this out of the water," Percy said.

"Hey, if you're lucky Gilliam has a No H8 shoot to get to in a few months, maybe he'll ask you to do that one too." Aaron smiled. "Because I know he'll call you guys back." Something occurred in Nico's mind while he was being mollycoddled.

"Aaron, why don't you model?" He asked, staring at the handsome pierced boy in the mirror.

"Me?" The redhead chuckled. "I'm more of a behind the scenes kind of guy, you know? As much as I like the spotlight I'd prefer to create art, not be it." He shrugged. "If you don't sign any contracts maybe you guys'll do some work for me? Nothing explicit you know? Well…not unless you're up for that." He laughed.

Before Percy could open his mouth Nico promptly said, "No, nothing explicit, but I mean if you need someone to just stand there and look at a camera I'm your man."

"It's not just about that," Aaron said. "Don't forget that, modeling is the same as acting, each frame is like a scene, you have to portray a certain emotion. It's not for everyone, there are plenty of pretty people out there, but baby not everyone is model material. That's why it's so weird seeing you guys here and not caring about how great you have it!" Percy laughed.

"We understand now," He said. "Hey, what's No H8?"

"It's an LGBT/straight alliance program, all proceeds go to equality for everyone; the photo shoots are done with duck tape across the mouth and the words 'no hate', you know hate as in H-8 across your cheek. They're done by all sorts of famous people, but a lot of models do them too."

"Alright…" Percy said. "That sounds really cool, but I have another question?"

"Shoot," Aaron replied, amused by the confusion set to the taller teen's brow.

"What does LGBT stand for?" Aaron laughed and clapped Percy on the shoulder.

"My young Padawan, much you have to learn about the ways of the world," Nico's attention was diverted when a hand wrapped underneath his chin, a bespectacled woman stared back at him. Her glasses were nearly as big as her face, making her nearly gray eyes huge against her rosy red cheeks. Nico had to sit back a little, jumping from her sudden grasp.

"He's jittery," She said in a heavy Bronx accent made froggy by years of smoking. "Sweetheart," She said, though she pronounced it 'sweeth _ar_ t.' Nico blinked a few times, the woman was in her mid-fifties, her frizzy gray hair haloed around her in a tangled mess of curls and she chewed her gum with abandon. Her jaw working like a cow's chewing its cud.

"You just scared him a little, Gina," Sally said with a laugh. "Nico, this is—"

"Gina Pirelli," Gina said, examing his face between her brightly painted fingers. "I been doing make up for Mr. Gilliam for about ten years now," Her lips were an electric blue, nearly white and Nico could hardly look away from them as they opened, smacked the gum inside and closed again. Her lips were extremely thin, she had very prevalent smile lines down the side of her cheeks and crow's feet were comfortably gathered around her eyes, magnified by her giant coke bottle spectacles.

She wasn't an ugly woman, it was obvious that in her youth she had been a nice looking lady, she had a sort of older beauty to her, not necessarily clear to close minded people who could only see beauty in youth but she was beautiful all the same in her own sense. Still, she was a lot to take in in one go and Nico would have averted his eyes if he had the chance, her gaze was nearly piercing as it took in every last detail of him. "Alright, sweetheart, I think I know what I'm working with here, you got pretty skin, boy."

"…thank you?" Nico decided, unsure how to reply to something like that.

"Yeah, I'll be right back with my kit, doll face, they get younger looking every year Salls," The woman stood and clapped Sally on the shoulder, Sally touched fingers with her and Gina was off.

"I know this is a lot, I wanted to keep you boys away from all of this," Sally said putting her hands on the back of Nico's chair. "Alex kept asking me if it was because I didn't think Percy could make it as a model, I know he can, he looks like his father," She sighed and her eyes became half lidded. "And you like yours, they're both fine looking men, Nico." She said, absently patting his head. "But, I've seen this sort of thing go to people's head, I've seen tragedy strike. Men and women both start doing all sorts of crazy things to look a certain way and I just wish everyone would realize that they're fine the way they are. There's nothing wrong with working out and staying healthy, but surgeries and elective procedures don't make you more beautiful, they make you more shallow, especially if they're done just so you can look young and pretty." Nico didn't know if Sally was talking to him or just talking, but he listened. "I don't think either of you will do that, because I'll beat you both till you're black and blue if you do, but still." She heaved a heavy sigh and Nico knew that Sally was carrying several heavy weights on her back. He knew work was hard on her, and that the very mention of Percy's father's name she grew incredibly bitter, but he wondered how she truly felt on the inside. He couldn't imagine that she felt as positive as she seemed most of the time, he grasped her hand and she smiled. "Oh, honey," She said and she hugged him. "I'm so glad Percy found you, even with the way you two got together, you're like a second son to me. I want you to succeed."

"Thank you, Sally," Nico replied with a smile, and now he truly did feel better. He realized how many loving people he had in his life, and he smiled even wider when he saw Rachel Elizabeth Dare talking to someone about her landscape portrait, they were motioning to it and making impressed gestures and he laughed as she seemed to be graciously accepting their compliments.

"I'm back, doll," Gina said, a make-up kit in hand. "Let's make that pretty mug of yours even prettier."

"You really don't know any of this?"

"No, I'm…I mean I was still doing that thing you told me about with Nico in bed, he really likes it." Percy shrugged. "I've looked up a lot of other stuff but, you know, the execution can be a lot more difficult than it looks." Aaron laughed.

"I can understand that, listen Percy, when you're in a committed relationship like you are you should probably save advanced techniques for special occasions," He said with a smile. "I'm all about exhibitionism, believe me, but Nico seems like the kind of guy who's cool with him, you, and a bed."

"He really is," Percy said. "I just don't want him getting bored, you know? He already thinks that I'm going to leave him for the next best thing, and I keep telling him that there's nothing better out there for me than him, that he's the one for me, but he doesn't believe me."

"Can you blame him?" Aaron shrugged.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked, they were leaning against a wall watching the models being photographed. It was nearly Nico's turn, he was getting dressed now and Rachel had gotten off somewhere with some sort of socialite, but Percy always enjoyed just talking with Aaron, he wasn't around nearly enough in Percy's opinion. He just seemed so worldly and knowledgeable. Percy took his advice like it was some sort of divine word most of the time.

"Well, you're quite a few gay guy's fantasy," The redhead said with a smile. "Childhood crush, straight guy who still finds you attractive; in a more believable situation Nico would have had to come to the quiet, crushing realization that you weren't into him, then he'd have to fight a black depression about how maybe he wasn't good enough for you in the first place and how if you actually _were_ into guys you wouldn't be into _him_ just because. When you get your dream I think you're always going to wonder if it's real, if you'll wake up at any moment." Again he shrugged. "Don't get me wrong, not every gay man or woman out there is like that, some of us are just as go-get-them and confident as any straight person, but with teenagers especially it's a hard time. You're his first love, Percy, that's a heavy responsibility because you never forget your first love."

Percy sat against the wall and looked up at Aaron, "Who was your first love, man?" He received a small smile.

"No, that's boring," Aaron said. "don't worry about it."

"I want to know," Percy said.

"Really?" Aaron asked, giving him an unconvinced look. Percy nodded and he sighed, "Fine. His name was Nadir," Aaron slunk down the wall. He cast his incredible eyes at Percy, two contrasting sort of blues meeting each other, one oceanic and dark the other more the color of the sky above on a cold December morning. "His family had come over here from India, I was probably thirteen, maybe twelve, I don't remember anymore. But I remember we would hang out all the time, he was incredibly smart, he tutored me all the time in English and Maths because I just couldn't get them," Then Aaron gave a chuckle. "But I think I couldn't get them because I wanted him to explain it to me. He was beautiful, Percy, I was fucking head over heels for him. Body, mind, and soul. He just got me, you know? We liked all the same stuff, adventured outside together, traded clothes back and forth; we were just the best of friends." Aaron put his head against the wall. "You never fall in love with your best friend."

"What happened?" Percy asked, enthralled.

"What happened? We got together, that's what happened. Nothing big you know, we were just kids. 'You show me yours and I'll show you mine' you know? Then I messed it all up, I started to kiss his cheek, started to hold his hands, be overly affectionate. He would do the same, we were secret boyfriends and I loved him. But, you know how these stories go, right? Even if his Dad hadn't found out about us and forced us apart he was starting to look at girls in a different light. I noticed it when he would just watch one walk into a room, and he would stare hard. But it was okay, he loved me too, or so I thought. Eventually he stopped seeing me, he wouldn't answer my calls, wouldn't return my notes, wouldn't talk to me at school. I thought it was just his father keeping us apart and I missed him, Percy, I missed him bad. Have you ever just missed someone's face?" Percy told him in fact that he knew exactly what he meant. "Well, I found out it wasn't his just father that was keeping us apart, he found himself a girlfriend, I mean I was a little kid and he left me all alone." Then the redhead sighed heavily. "God, listen to me, I'm boring you."

"No, you're not," Percy said reassuringly. "I've only really loved two people like this in my life, and I think this is really interesting." Aaron smirked sardonically.

"Interesting? Hm. Yeah, I've been called that before," He pulled his knees up to his chest and held them in his hands. "Well, after all that I had to change myself somehow, right? I just needed a change, something that had never been around when Nadir was, something he had never gotten to see, it sounds stupid but I needed some of my dignity back. So I got my first piercing."

"I can see all your piercings though," Percy said. "He probably could too."

"Oh, you couldn't see this piercing, and I'm pretty sure Nico wouldn't've wanted you to." Aaron grinned.

"Oh…oh!" Percy's face took on a frightened quality. "Ow! That sounds fucking painful."

"It didn't feel good, I won't lie about that, but after a while and keeping it clean I had something that sort of reaffirmed my own privacy, something someone knew nothing about. But I took it out a while ago, it's a lot of maintenance, besides I started getting tattoos and they're a lot more permanent and personal."

Percy still looked pained, "I don't know how you could get more personal than that," He said which made Aaron laugh.

"Yeah well, getting cheated on hurts like you wouldn't believe a lot more than the piercing," He said shaking his head. "Don't ever do it don't ever cheat on Nico, and I don't think he would ever cheat on you, you've got him at your beck and call." Percy's face took on a darker quality and his vision hit the floor.

"If I tell you something can you keep it a secret?" He asked eyes searching Aaron's face. "Just for a little while?"

"No," Aaron said. "I don't keep secret if they can hurt people, so I don't want to know it if it could potentially make Nico feel how I felt all those years ago." Percy nodded.

"I understand, man. I just need someone to talk to about this,"

"Well, not that I know anything, but whatever happened you should probably talk it out with the other party it happened with and, not that I know anything, you should probably tell Nico as soon as possible and if you want to stay together kiss so much ass your lips get tired to keep him happy."

"It wasn't anything sexual man, it was just a kiss," Percy said.

"La la la, I can't hear you," Aaron replied, hands against his ears. "I really _don_ ' _t_ want to know Percy." Then the older teen sighed heavily. "This is really tearing you up inside isn't it?"

"It is," Percy nearly cried. "It wasn't supposed to happen, it was just a drunken kiss, but I feel so bad because I can't remember if I kissed her back or what, and I haven't told Nico because I know it'll break his heart, he's already so fragile."

"You didn't kiss her did you?" Aaron asked, pointing to Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

"No! No, not Rachel," Percy replied. "She's one of my friend's from college, she's having a really tough time, you know? Paying for school and she's always being called off to work for some guy, I have no idea what he's got her doing but I don't like it, she's such a cool girl, but she kissed me, you know?"

"It's just a kiss, Percy," Aaron said. "It'll be fine if you get that point across to Nico, fragility or no I think he'll be able to handle that, he'll be mad as hell and hurt but as long as it was just a kiss and as long as it never. _Never_ ever happens again and you tell him how much you feel for him I think he'll be okay."

"I have to talk to Callie first," Percy said. "If I tell Nico now he'll just hate her more, I understand her problems and I don't' want him to hate her. It's probably my fault she kissed me," Aaron chuckled.

"Maybe," He said. "Just get your point across that you don't feel the same way for her, I've got a story about being the other man as well, I've got a story for just about every occasion, I'm still looking for Mr. Right, but I'm happy with a few casual flings all around."

"Hey, I wouldn't mind hearing a few of those," Percy gave a small smile. "Whatever happened with that Nadir guy?"

"He's going to school to be an archeologist," Aaron shrugged. "I hear he's got a kid now too, living a pretty good life off of his father's money, we talked but not for long a couple months ago. I was just a passing fancy, most guys have that moment where they think 'could I like other guys' and a few of them test that out, another reason why gay teens have so much trouble, their friends and people they like use them as experiments, it happens a lot in college too now that I think about it. You're not just experimenting with Nico are you?"

"No! It's not like that at all, I love Nico, I've never loved anyone like this in my life."

"You're so young though," Aaron said in a small voice. "I just hope you don't hurt each other."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Percy asked, but Aaron shushed him.

"Nico's up." He said motioning towards the side of the room that had been done up for a photo op. Aaron sighed when Percy looked away, captivated by his boyfriend standing there in winter clothing, a long red, white, and blue peacoat with at least twenty buttons going down the front of it, a red scarf the same length as his entire body wrapped around his neck and pulled slack to about his chest. He was wearing a white toboggan that couldn't hide his millions of curls and underneath he wore pleated white slacks with square toed black pointed loafers. Percy watched as his mother threw a handful of fake snow at Nico and the boy laughed and suddenly the camera flickered, the flash bulb lighting brightly. Percy smiled along with him as more pictures were taken while Sally and Rachel distracted Nico, making him look natural and caught off guard when the picture was actually taken. Percy didn't think it looked that hard, but he did wonder how the pictures were turning out. Aaron on the other hand was watching Percy watch Nico, he did hope they would be good; he wanted them to work out if not for themselves then selfishly for himself. He wanted to see love flourish, at least once.


	29. Chapter 29

If you would have told her that a Sunday was the day she was going to do something horrible Calypso probably would have agreed with you. She felt terrible, like there was nowhere she could turn, no one she could go to. There was the police, but what could she say to them? Triton had never hit her, she had willingly agreed to this—and it wasn't like he was the one who was really pulling the strings. Callie had met Poseidon once and she decided she never wanted to meet him again, he was dark and handsome and he exuded an aura of danger that breached the line of fun and extended far into the corners of scary. She didn't like the way he had been looking at her, almost like he could devour her whole. Maybe he could, he almost felt otherworldly and she had only been in his presence for ten minutes.

Her grades were slipping again, everything but Mythology with Percy because she and Percy did so much studying together. Anytime he got free time she would invite him over, she would do the hair flip, wear the short-shorts, do the shoulder trick—you know the one, touching his shoulder and laughing when he told a joke. She had done just about everything in the book, he was nearly unshakable, and it was obvious just how much he really liked Nico. Loved, even. God, Callie might have been in love with Nico for how much Percy talked about him, how _perfect_ he made the other young man sound.

If she had to hear one more story about Nico's laugh, or the cute things he did in his sleep she was going to walk up to him and plant a big one on him. That way it would at least be even between the two young men. She ran a hand through her long blonde hair and sighed. There was no use in crying about it anymore, she figured she was all cried out. There was no sympathy for a girl like her, basically she was a prostitute right now. Triton's father had explicitly said she was supposed to be helping his son think _straight._ The double entendre was not lost on her, she hated that Poseidon was so homophobic and that his poison had affected his oldest son's mind. She knew he had other children, several other children and none of them girls, and she feared for their young minds.

She sighed, Triton was supposed to be dropping something off for her today, something to help her in her endeavor since Percy didn't seem to be responding to her, even when he was drunk. Sure, his lips had been responsive, but somewhere, deep in his mind she could hear alarms going off. It wouldn't have gotten much farther than it did, and it hadn't been a very desirable kiss. He was drunk and had no idea how well she could hold her liquor, besides the fact that he had been giggling into it he had immediately regretted it. She had not heard from him in two days.

As soon as that thought crossed her mind there was a knock on the door. "One minute," She called and looked in the mirror. She wasn't a vain girl; in fact she hardly tried to look much of anything anymore besides tired. She hated looking tired, she ran a brush through her hair a few times and made her way over to the door. A part of her had hoped it was Percy, or Rachel, or Thalia, or Jason, or even Nico, but it was the one person in the world who she didn't want to see.

"Hey," He grinned, it was amazing how much he looked like Percy. He touched the side of her cheek and she pulled away.

"Hi," She replied, not looking at him.

"I can't stay long, there's a cute black girl waiting on me outside,"

"How you get girls talking like that I'll never know," She glared and he laughed.

"Because when you look this damn good you don't have to say anything." He grinned even wider. "Anyway, here, slip Perce one of these and he'll be putty in your hands." He handed her an unmarked pill bottle and she looked at it.

"What are these?" She asked.

"Roofies," He shrugged.

"The date rape drug?" She dropped the bottle. "I'm not giving him one of those," Triton leaned down and picked up the pills, handing it back to her.

"You don't really have a choice," He said with a grin. "Just make it happen, you've got it in you, pretend he's me."

"Don't say that, I don't think you want me to beat Percy within an inch of his life, so I won't do that." Triton laughed and closed her hand around the bottle, pulling her close he whispered in her ear.

"You can try anytime you want, breaking strong women turns me on." She wrenched her hand out of his and stepped away.

"You're a pig," She spat.

"I'm just a man, all women think men are dogs, right? Well it's better to act like one and not disappoint." Callie very seriously thought about slapping him then and there but she was afraid of his retaliation.

"You have no idea what a man is," She glared. "A man is someone who's there for his family, a man is someone who doesn't treat women like dirt, a _man_ is someone who can accept a person for who they are. My father was a man, Percy Jackson is more of a man than you'll ever be." Then she slammed her door because he made a move to step forward.

"You just do what you have to." Triton nearly yelled through the door. "If you don't get it done by the end of the week then we're dropping you, you'll go to jail for breach of contract, but first I'll make your life a living hell."

"My life already is a living hell," She whispered. The end of the week? That was five days away. God above she was damned if she did and damned if she didn't. Her phone rang and she sighed. She went over to it and nearly cursed, Percy was calling her. She really did have the worst luck. "He-hello?" She asked, clearing her throat.

" _Hey_ , _Callie_ , _I think you and I need to talk_ , _are you free_?" Shit. Who the fuck was writing the script out to her life? Whoever it was was a cruel, sadistic bastard and she hated him immensely.

"Uh, yeah," She said sitting on the bed. "Listen, I'm sorry about—"

" _Don't worry about it_ ," Percy replied nonchalantly. " _It was nothing, right_? _We were drunk;_ _I just can't let it happen again_. _I'll be over soon_ ,"

"Yeah, okay, cool," She said mechanically. "I'll see you soon." Calypso hung the phone up and wondered why the fuck Percy was such a good guy? People like him were supposed to be one-in-a-million and yet there he was, always wearing that friendly smile. She was so glad he had not been subjected to his father's poison, but then the pill bottle in her hands weighed heavy. She looked down at it.

What would happen if she didn't go through with it? Triton had said she would go to jail for breach of contract. What would be the worst thing that happened if she slept with Percy? Well, for one she would be a relationship wrecking whore. Alright, there was that. Every day she would look at herself in the mirror and not be able to stand whoever was staring back at her. There was that too. But a part of her was more afraid of Triton than of her own self-loathing. He seemed incredibly unstable, and that was probably what scared her most of all. Calypso sighed and stood, she could at least grab a shower before Percy came and she threw herself at him after drugging him.

She was quick in her cleansing, the water was lukewarm and she didn't enjoy it. She probably wouldn't enjoy a lot of things that were about to happen. Maybe she didn't have to drug him, if she could just force herself on him, if she could just get past all his alarms set up to ward off thoughts of cheating and she could touch that primal need to mate in him then maybe she wouldn't feel so shitty.

Calypso toweled off. ' _Yeah_ ,' She thought, if it was at least consensual then her stomach wouldn't turn in guilt…well, wouldn't turn in guilt so much. She was still trying to break up a perfectly good couple. Probably the best since her parents had been together.

There was a knock at her door and she sighed wrapping her towel under her arms she fluffed her hair and went to the door. She opened it and Percy stood there with a smile on his face. Time slowed down, she had to make her move now or it was never going to happen; he opened his mouth and she lunged. At first he just seemed surprised and Calypso hated to say it but his mouth was sweet, then his lips were protesting hers and she kissed him harder, deeper, trying desperately to find that place that resided in people were nothing but the warmth of another person matter.

Then, someone gasped and Calypso pulled back just enough to see what was the very shocked face of Nico di Angelo. "What are you doing Calypso?" Percy asked breathlessly, his eyes wide.

"He's not supposed to be here!" She shouted, then she realized how that sounded. Suddenly Nico looked angry, she had always thought he had a very cute face, adorable almost like a ebon colored teddy bear but the glare that came out of his eyes chilled her blood and stopped her heart.

"YOU BITCH!" Calypso had never heard Nico shout before either but she jumped, stepping back from Percy. There was a fire in his eyes, a grim, black fire that Calypso found herself shaking from. Nico di Angelo was suddenly making Triton look tame. The next thing she knew he was running forward, whatever was in his arms dropped on the ground. Percy grabbed him just as he was within leaping distance at her but that didn't stop him from grabbing a handful of her hair. "Let go of me!" He screamed jerking his hands backward and pain shot into her skull from his pulling.

"You let go of her!" Percy said. "Nico, let go!" The boy did, but he was shaking and Calypso grasped at her head where his iron grip had been, tears had been brought to her eyes just from one yank. "Calm down! This is a misunderstanding, right?"

Nico's eyes were wild, fierce. He pushed Percy back and the taller teen looked dumbfounded by it. "Misunderstanding? A misunderstanding? She was fucking tonguing you!" He screamed. Calypso knew she would have had to do this sooner or later, she swallowed her guilt.

"No! Nico it was nothing!" Percy turned around and stared at Calypso, he looked hurt. "Tell him! This is nothing, this was nothing."

"Just like hooking up at the party was nothing, Percy?" Calypso asked.

"What!" Percy and Nico said at the same time, the prior sounded unbelieving and the latter heartbroken. Then Nico turned to Percy, he was near convulsions, past tears, and making sounds that were causing Calypso's conscious to physically hurt. "I can't believe you!" Percy yelled and Callie cringed.

"No, no, no," Nico pushed a finger into Percy's chest. "All this time? I told you I didn't like her, I told you she wanted you, you gave me some bullshit! Bullshit, Percy! How long?"

"Nico, it's not like that. She's lying," Percy tried, tears were in his eyes.

"What the _fuck_ does she have to lie about, Percy?" Then he chuckled in a dry, unbelieving manner. "I can't believe it, I tried to let you go, I did! I said stay with Annabeth, I said to do what made you happy! I didn't ask you to say you loved me, Percy! I didn't ask you to—"

"Nico! Will you listen to me? I—"

"What? Percy, what?" Nico glared, but he held up a hand. "No, better yet I don't want to hear it, not right now."

"Nico—"

"Percy let him go, he had to find out sooner or later," Calypso said, but her voice was dead in her own ears. Watching this was killing her. She didn't know about Nico's doubts, she didn't know about his insecurities, to her this was just what was supposed to happen. Nico scoffed, then he yelled, tears of anger falling freely out of his eyes.

"Would you kindly shut the fuck up!" Percy yelled at her and suddenly she was reminded of Triton. It made her become quiet, and she shrunk back. Without another word Nico stormed out, a shout of frustration marking his exit. "Oh my God, what is wrong with you?" Percy screamed, she had never seen him like this either but it was terrifying.

"I—" Calypso didn't know what to say, that's when it hit her exactly what she had done. She knew what it was going to be like, it had been a long time coming since day one but what she didn't expect to see was Percy breaking down into tears. She didn't expect him to look so forlorn, so helpless. She wanted to reach out but she curled her fingers back, if she touched him now he was likely to physically express him anger. But, this was Percy. Not Triton. Very slowly she reached forward and placed her hands on his shaking shoulders. He shrugged her off but she grasped his shoulders again. "I'm sorry," She said.

" _It's my fault_ ," He choked, his voice a weak whisper, his crying wasn't a very pretty thing. Tears and mucus ran down his face and he did his best to turn his face away from her but she saw, she had broken something he never truly thought breakable; all with one kiss. She kneeled down on the floor and pulled him close.

"This isn't your fault," She said. "How can you say that? He's mad at me, he'll forgive you."

"No, you don't understand," Percy replied, he was too weak to push her away. "Nico's fragile, he might not seem like it but everyday I'm not near him he's afraid that I won't come back. He…he looks at our relationship like it's the most precious thing in the world, and he doesn't let people in often, not as far in as he let me." For a moment another sob took him and he screamed silently falling forward he supported himself on his arms. Calypso couldn't do anything but rub circles in his back, then he looked at her, red eyed and shaking. "He called me perfect."

"You can just explain that—"

"No, Calypso, I'm sorry. I led you on, I didn't mean to, I thought—I don't know, I thought I made it clear that I was happy, I shouldn't have been so…I shouldn't have—I'm so sorry." She watched him convulse and he looked physically sick. Calypso's world was reeling, did Percy just apologize for her kissing him? She stood up, she had to…fuck. What could she do?

' _I should have chosen jail_ ,' The thought came to her like a knife wound to the temple, it struck her blunt and nearly numbed her. Her knees buckled and she held the wall just to stay up. Reality hardly ever afforded a relationship like Percy and Nico's and in less than a minute and thirty seconds she had fuck it all up. Nico had glared murder at her, a despair so deep and wretched that at once she understood him and it was likely to drive her insane. She understood every feeling he had towards Percy and it overwhelmed her to know someone could love like that. "Percy," She said trying not to throw up, God above she hated herself now. "Percy this isn't your fault." She said.

The crying man's phone rang and he scrambled for it, not even checking the screen. "Nico! Ni—oh, Rachel. What? I-I, no. It's not like that," Anger and frustration worked their way into his voice, he was a man burning and Calypso could see that, she could nearly feel the heat from his metaphorical pit of flames. Nico was more emotional than she had even thought possible, he had warned her to stay away. She didn't expect him to actually attack her though, his eyes had blanked when he lunged forward, they were the eyes of the dead, no lights, no pupils, just a dull dirt colored brown. Percy hung the phone up. "Nico's throwing a fit," He said. "He punched a hole in the wall and he's wrecking our room and screaming and now he's packing a bag."

"Percy," Calypso cried. "It was just a kiss! He's overreacting." Percy turned his painful gaze on her.

"To Nico a kiss is the same as sex, I'm trying to tell you that you don't understand Calypso, he would have been okay if I would have sat him down and told him about the other kiss, he would have understood that it was a drunken mistake, but he saw this. He saw you and me and it doesn't matter any what I said afterwards when you told him that we _hooked_ _up_ ; there didn't need to be any explanation it was just as good as if you and I were fucking around behind his back." Percy groaned. "I have to stop him," He said. "Nico can't handle this, he doesn't do good with emotion," Percy pushed himself up and staggered just a bit. "I have to go, I'm sorry Callie, for everything—"

"Would you shut the fuck up!" Calypso screamed and Percy's eyes widened. "Stop apologizing, this is my fault! I planned it, okay? Well, your family planned it, your Dad is paying for my school as long as I seduced you, I wanted to stop Percy, you have to believe me I wanted to stop, but I was contractually obligated, and they threatened me—" Then there was no distinction between Perseus and Triton, they were one person, the level of hatred in Percy's eyes rivaled and surpassed that of his brother's and Calypso whimpered. "I'm sorry." She cried.

"Don't you ever fucking talk to me again," Percy's voice was a low rumbled and more tears fell out of his eyes. He balled his fists up but they only shook at his sides till blood began dripping through his knuckles. He hit the wall, leaving a bloody smear and squeezed his eyes closed turning; she knew he was going after Nico.

"I'm sorry," She called after him, but he was running down the hallway now. Calypso put her head in her hands.

"Bravo," She looked up and standing there smugly was Triton, looking every bit the son of Poseidon. "I thought I would stick around when I saw them at the entrance, your performance was excellent I really must say. CNN would be happy to have you," He laughed. "Percy looked like he was going to hit you, didn't he? I've never seen him so…alive, I was wondering if he really was our Dad's kid but after seeing that look on his face there's no doubt in my mind," Then he ran a hand through his hair. "Not that I could deny he was my brother," He grinned.

"You're sick," Calypso cried. "Sick!" She screamed.

"And baby you have a grand future ahead of you now thanks to me," Triton leaned down and kissed the top of her head. "Don't leave town,"

"Tony?" Calypso stared through misty eyes at a very pretty dark skinned Black girl that peaked into the hall. "I thought we had a date?"

"I'm coming, Britney, I just had to give my friend here some encouragement," Triton patted her. "Keep your chin up, _Callie_ , and, um, keep the pills." He grinned and walked past her then he took the girl by the arm, she looked over her shoulder and Calypso read a question on the girl's lips: _Are you sure she's alright_? She didn't wait for Triton's answer; she stood up and went to her room straight to the bathroom. She threw up.

* * *

"Where is he!" Percy screamed coming into his building, Rachel stood at their open door.

"Percy, what the fuck is going on? Nico _exploded_ in here and just started throwing stuff around, what happened? He just kept screaming cheater." She gave him a hard stare. "Did you cheat on him?"

"Not intentionally," Percy said, ducking into the room, Nico was nowhere to be seen but his destructive path was quite clear, the room was in shambles, there was a crack that split the mirror and the chairs lay broken on the floor, papers were scattered everywhere and textbooks looked like they had been hurled against the wall. The only real things left intact were the closets.

"What do you mean not intentionally?" Rachel asked, following him into the room. "You know him, you know how he is why would you do that to him?" Percy turned on her and she backed up.

"I said I didn't do it on purpose, okay!" He screamed and then he nearly deflated, tears falling out of his eyes. "It was my Dad, he fucking paid Calypso to try to seduce me." Rachel looked as if she had been struck by something.

"What going on in here?" They both looked up to the sound of Ethan Nakamura's voice. "Percy what the hell is all of this?" He asked stepping over broken glass and around the couch. How Nico had thrown the couch Percy would never know. Quickly they caught Ethan up to what was going on and he looked just as struck as Rachel had. He opened his mouth but he didn't have anything to say regarding the matter.

"Did he say where he was going?" Percy asked finally.

"No, it was like he didn't even see me," Rachel replied.

"Fuck!" Percy shouted and he collapsed on the bed. "Fuck." He said again.

* * *

"Jason?" Nico asked through tears over his phone, it was raining outside and he was sitting against his car four blocks from the gas station, of all things he had blown a tire and even with everything that had happened it was the scariest experience of his life. He was fine and the car was fine but he had no idea how to change a tire. "Can you and Leo come pick me up? I know I should be calling my Dad about this but I-I just can't," He cried into the phone. His head hurt from the lacking of air, every breath seemed to become a sob.

" _Yeah man, where are you_? _What's wrong_?" Was Jason's reply and Nico told him where he was. " _That's not far from here, we'll be there in five minute_ ,"

"Just hurry, please?" Jason assured him that he and Leo would be on the way and he even told Nico that it was going to be okay, whatever was going on. Nico couldn't believe that, he couldn't believe anything anymore. He wanted to be angry at Percy, he wanted to be angry at Calypso, but really he was angry at himself. He had seen it, all the signs and he had just let it happen under his nose. Right under his fucking nose. Percy had been so smooth about it all, Nico didn't know how much of it was true, Percy's love, but he had always felt loved, wholly. It seemed like his boyfriend and his boyfriend's apparent girlfriend were just good actors. Nico could have kicked himself, Percy had been so convincing.

' _Can't a guy and a girl be friends without there being anything there_?' He had said. How fucking Don Juan of him, how believable, Nico had even felt bad about thinking that there might even be the slightest hint that Callie was after his man and that made him cry all the harder, he felt like his insides were slowly turning to mush, like his brain was about to collapse. Every second he was hit by something new: anger, despair, regret, sickness. Betrayal. Nico had never felt betrayed before, it was as if someone had cracked an egg yolk inside of his chest and it was oozing drippingly down his entire body, pulling with it all of his trust, all of his happiness, and lying on the very sidewalk in front of him.

This morning had felt like such a good morning too, another wave of sickness passed through him when he realized he and Percy hadn't used protection the night before when they had made love. Did he use protection when he was fucking Callie? Nico felt his stomach turn but he hardly had the energy to retch, let alone dry heave. The things he had done for Percy, the things he had done with him. Every last intimate detail burned freshly in his mind, he had left himself completely and totally vulnerable, he had not used his normal inhibitions, that was how much he believed in his relationship. How stupid could he have been, Nico had stopped looking for signs of cheating. He had started thinking maybe he was good enough. Well, that thought was thrown out the window now. A shuddered passed through him and he realized he could see his breath in the air.

"Are you insane?" Jason's voice called over the ice cold rain. "You're going to die out here like this, it's supposed to snow later on tonight." Nico barely looked up, he was freezing to his core but he didn't even realize he was shivering, he didn't even feel his teeth chattering at an almost breakable speed. "Get in the car, now!" Jason said and he grabbed Nico by the arm, shoving him into the backseat of a warm car. Absently Nico saw Leo standing behind Jason, then the smaller boy was kneeling down at Nico's back blown tire; they came back to the car and the Mexican boy leaned his head in.

"What are you doing out here in the Brooklyn, Nico? What's going on?" But Nico didn't answer him, he just stared at them, teeth chattering. "Well whatever it is you've got a spare in your trunk, me and Jason'll change it and I'll drive your car back to my house, okay?" Nico didn't nod, he didn't even acknowledge them other than saying thank you. "Are you okay, buddy?" Leo asked but Nico just looked away.

No, no he was not okay.

"Come on, let's get this tire changed quick, I think your Mom's got a jack in the trunk," Jason said and Leo nodded. They worked quickly and Nico just lost track of time, the warm air wrapped around him like the fingers of death and his breathing became shallow, he sat back. It couldn't have been fifteen minutes later that Jason was taking the driver's seat. "I don't care how tough you are, Neeks, but not even Superman would be walking Brooklyn at ten o'clock at night."

For the first time Nico spoke, "I've been driving around for two hours," He said hoarsely, he swallowed saliva and shivered to his core so his words shook, but that might have been his crying still. "Just driving, trying to clear my head." Nico felt the car jerk into first gear and he watched his own make a U-turn, then they were following behind it.

"What happened?" Jason asked.

"Percy is screwing his friend Callie," Nico shrugged, smiling superfluously. "No big deal really." His humor was dead, his words were flat and he felt every hurt tenfold all over again. Nico cried. "I should have known, I should have known no one could love me."

"Calm down, Nico, did you actually see them?" Jason asked. "You're probably overreacting, it could've all been a—"

"Misunderstanding? Yeah, Percy said the same thing, he's been giving me that bullshit for the past seven months. He and Callie are just "friends" they're just "studying" at all hours of the night. I can't believe I was so fucking naïve," Nico ran both hands through his sopping wet hair. "He played me like a damned fool, and if I answer my phone I'll fall for a lie and forgive him." Nico sobbed.

"Has he ever cheated on you before?"

"No," Nico answered. "I-I don't know. Maybe,"

"You still didn't say if you saw them together," Jason said. "You're pretty emotional right now—"

"She was shoving her tongue down his throat!" Nico shouted, "She didn't know I was coming with Percy to her room today, he had something he wanted to talk to her about and then when the bitch notices me she had the gall to say I wasn't supposed to be there!"

"Oh, aw man I'm sorry," Jason replied and the car stopped. "I guess she really did follow through on that contract,"

"Contract?" Nico asked, and Jason's eyes went wide. "What contract?"

"I'm not allowed to say," The blond boy said, suddenly finding interest in the steering wheel.

"You know something about this? What the fuck Jason?"

"Nico you've got to understand that I had no idea she was actually going to follow through with it." Jason looked over his shoulder, they were parked outside of Leo's apartment complex. Suddenly Nico turned his darkest scowl on the third person for that day and Jason sighed, then he very quickly told him about the dealings that not only Calypso had but the one he had too. "I'm still really in the dark as to why I was here, but that's all I know, I swear."

"So…Poseidon paid you to be…"

"Friendly, that's all they said. But when Triton offered the job to Thalia—"

"Wait? Thalia?"

"Yeah, Triton wanted her to try to seduce you like Calypso was supposed to do to Percy, but my sister refused and well I was going through a hard time with Leo so I took the job under different circumstances."

"You're trying to justify this, and I really fucking want to punch you in the face for even saying half of what you just said." Nico pushed his door open with force. "This was a mistake; I shouldn't have come to you thinking I had actually made a friend,"

"Nico, I am your friend," Jason tried but Nico slammed the door.

"Don't fall in love," He glared through the rain at Leo taking his keys back. "They're all fucking liars and cheaters," Before the slightly shorter young man could even say anything Nico ducked into his car and started it and the last things they saw were his taillights speeding away.

"What was that about?" Leo asked as Jason stepped out of the car dumbfounded.

"Several people have royally fucked up," Jason replied. "Royally fucked up." He said again for emphasis.

* * *

"Nico?" Aaron asked blinking back sleep. "What are you doing here?" After gassing up and another few hours of just driving around somehow Nico had made it over the bridge to Manhattan, but it was nearly four o'clock in the morning, he had searched just about every apartment in this complex until he found this door.

"Can I come in?" Nico asked and Aaron took in his appearance.

"Yeah, sure, you look like shit," The redhead stepped back.

"Thanks," Nico glared and Aaron smiled, wiping fresh tears off the dark teen's face.

"Don't worry about it, I probably don't look like Man of the year right now either." He shrugged and closed the door behind Nico. "Let me guess, Percy told you about kissing that girl?"

"You knew they were together?" Nico asked stopping mid-step, he was so tired he couldn't scream anymore, and much too tired to be mad at yet _another_ person. Instead he just sighed heavily, deflating. "Fuck. Did everybody know but me?"

"He told me when you were at your shoot, I didn't want him to tell me but he did anyway." Aaron leaned against the door. "I'm going to go ahead and guess again that you've been riding all over town thinking about where you could go that wouldn't remind you of time you two spent together and finally you made it to my doorstep." Nico's eyes were drooping and he yawned. "Look, there's no point in being upset at me for knowing, it was none of my business,"

"What? So your blissful ignorance is supposed to make me feel better? I feel like such a fucking idiot." Nico rested his head in his hands.

"Don't," Aaron said. "It was one kiss; everyone's allowed a drunken mistake,"

"No, it wasn't just one kiss Aaron!" Nico told him the story. "And if that's the case who's to say he hasn't lied about everything?" Aaron sighed. "It just feels like everyone knew I was going to get heartbroken and no one warned me."

"Rachel warned you," Aaron said. "But, listen, you can't blame yourself, you were the best boyfriend Percy could ask for, hell, you were the best mate Percy could ask for, just give it a few days and try again."

"I don't want to try again." Nico shook his head. "I mean I do, I love him. God, I fucking love him too much, but a part of me has always felt like this was going to happen and it's my own damn fault."

"Have a seat," Aaron put an arm around Nico's back and led him to the couch. He lived in a one bedroom apartment, but there was a kitchenette, a living room, and two bathrooms, one in the bedroom and one beside the kitchenette. "Can I get you something to drink?"

"Vodka?" Nico asked. "Beer? Something with a kick to it?"

"No alcohol, that's how this whole mess started, I'll make you some hot chocolate you've got to be freezing, you're soaking wet. Ah, ah, ah! Don't sit on the couch, better yet go back to my room and find something dry to put on." Nico nodded and followed Aaron's finger back to his bedroom. "Should be something in the closet, boxers in the top drawer beside my bed." Nico didn't want to be left alone with his thoughts, his clothes were even colder suddenly and he stripped, his pants making a wet sound as they solidly hit the ground, then his shirt followed behind. "Did you want a towel—" Aaron's question was cut short. "Sorry," Quickly the door was closed and something clicked in Nico's mind. He went over to the door and leaned against it.

"Aaron," He said loudly enough to be heard.

"What's that?" Aaron's voice wafted back into the room. "I didn't see anything I haven't already seen before so don't worry about it."

"No, not that," Nico said, trying to smile. "You find me attractive don't you?"

"Not right now, no," Nico ripped the door open and he found Aaron standing there on the other side.

"Why not? What's so ugly about me? Let me know so I can understand what I did to Percy to make him cheat?" Nico was near tears again and Aaron pulled him into a hug.

"Because, little boy, you're my friend, I don't ever cross the two worlds, and you're in a relationship, you still love Percy but you're just really hurt right now." Then the redhead held him at an arm's length. "You're a very cute kid, Nico, but what you need to do is get dressed and go to sleep, you've had a rough day."

"But, it would make me and him even," Nico said, holding onto Aaron's shirt desperately, confused. The taller of the two smiled.

"You don't want to get even," Aaron said and he kissed Nico's forehead. "Get dressed Nico," He pushed the young man back into his room and closed the door behind him. Then he turned and walked into his kitchen to heat the milk for the hot chocolate. Nico found one of Aaron's only tee-shirts; there were mostly button ups in the closet. He pulled it on and went over to the dresser beside the bed. He pulled on a pair of Aaron's boxers as well. He opened the door. "Here," Aaron said handing him a mug. " _Moi grandmere_ ' _s_ secret recipe all the way from France," He smiled. "Guaranteed to make you feel better."

Nico took a sip, "It's good," He said, though a mug of cocoa wasn't going to do it for him.

"Grandma would thank you," Aaron grinned. "Go on and get settled on the couch, I'll get you some extra blankets."

"Aaron," The redhead turned. "Thank you."

"I told you you're my friend," Aaron said patting Nico's cheeks. "I don't have many of those, so it's alright, I'll be here for you if you need me, now, go lay down."


	30. Chapter 30

"Percy calling again?" Aaron asked as Nico put his phone away. "You should answer him, you can't keep ignoring him." Nico didn't answer and Aaron laughed. "You also can't not eat; I worked hard on your breakfast."

"I didn't know you knew Eggo's secret frozen waffle recipe," Nico said dryly, poking said now unfrozen waffles which were coated in warm syrup. Aaron sat across from him at the small dining table and sipped his orange juice.

"No need to bite my head off," He leaned forward. "But seriously, you can't keep ignoring Percy, or Jason, or Rachel. I don't even think she knew what was going on," Again Nico was quiet, his clothes were currently in the washer and he was still only wearing a tee shirt and a pair of boxers, even if it was rather cold outside and it was slowly slipping into the small apartment. Nico hadn't slept at all the previous night, he tried but his mind kept wandering. Maybe it was the fact that it was his first real relationship, the first time he gave his heart away truly and wholly, but Nico found he blamed himself. He just hadn't been enough.

Percy was a social creature after all.

Still, it hurt so damn bad, everything had happened so suddenly. One minute Percy's giving him some weak excuse about needing to see if he left a book over at Calypso's, and perhaps Nico should have left well enough alone, but he had a very strong feeling that he should have gone with him. Now he was questioning if it was better to know or if he would have preferred to live in blissful ignorance. But, most troubling of all perhaps was that Nico found a waffle was now slowly sliding down his face, leaving a sticky trail of syrup, and though Nico really wanted to stay pent up in his own mind it was enough to shake him from his reverie. "Did you just throw a waffle at me?" He asked almost detachedly, as if it wouldn't register that he had been distracted from his thoughts.

"I told you to eat your breakfast," Aaron shrugged.

"But this is your waffle," Nico said pulling it off of his face. The redhead smiled.

"Come on, that was funny," When Aaron saw Nico wouldn't be amused he sighed and got up from the table. "It's not like I eat a big breakfast anyway, I was done," He said. "I've to go to work, feel like going with me or are you going to mope around my apartment all day?"

"I'll stay here, if you don't mind," Nico sighed, settling back into his chair.

"You don't have to, I know you're feeling vulnerable, it'd be best if you weren't left alone—" He was stopped midsentence by a sudden somberness that came over Nico's face, deep trenches of sadness were warring for prevalence in his eyes and his brow kept drawing together in concentration. "What?" Aaron asked. "What's wrong?"

"I really just don't want you to see me crying, Aaron, okay? I'm trying really hard right now not to fucking cry." It was true, Nico's eyes were glossy and his pupils were red-rimmed and on the very edge of his lashes sat the very faintest hint of a tear.

"Nico," Aaron put a hand on his shoulder. "don't try to look strong in front of me, I know you're strong, you can cry if you want to." The brunet met his stare and he closed his eyes and Aaron's voice turned soft, "It's not good to keep it inside." He grasped the boy's shoulder and he squatted down. "Let it out, sweetheart." Nico tried to hold back, he really did. He tried to compose that mask around his face, the impenetrable disguise that made him unreadable, but he couldn't. His mask lay in broken pieces and he couldn't mend it, Percy had been cracking away at it for so long now and he couldn't muster the strength to create a new one. He tried to quell his emotion like he was accustomed to but this too was too much, he had been holding it in for longer than he could bear anymore.

"Aaron…" Nico cried and he found his tears gushed forth unlike ever before, pouring over the levees of his eyes. Aaron smiled absently and Nico crumbled out of the chair, wrapping his arms around the ginger young man's neck. He broke down into choking sob and his shoulders shook as Aaron rubbed circles in his back. "What did I do to make him cheat?" He sobbed. "I thought we were doing good, I thought he loved me." Then his crying hindered his ability to sound coherent and instead he began blabbering, his disappointment and shame flooding out spontaneously, there was only one other time Nico could think of that had ever hurt worse than this. His mother and his sister's funeral, but he had been young then a long time ago and he had handled his grief the way his father had taught him. Holding it all inside; but, he was older now, his grief more profound and much more difficult to bottle.

He cried, and he cried and Aaron continued to rub his back, and then Nico found he couldn't even muster the tears to cry anymore. "Feel better" The ginger young man asked him.

"No," Nico replied, holding tightly to his friend. "I think I hate everyone right now," Aaron chuckled and helped them to stand off the floor.

"Go take a shower," He said, "maybe you'll feel better when you get clean, you can borrow more of my clothes while yours finish up." Numbly Nico nodded, his eyes were still red and his shoulders were still shaking but Aaron helped him make his way towards the bathroom. "Don't take too long, I've got to be to work in about an hour and a half," He watched Nico close the door. "And jiggle the handle a little, the hot water shuts off on you sometimes,"

"Thanks," Nico replied through the door and then the sound of water began, Aaron sighed. He wondered if he should intervene, it wasn't his place, but the least he could do was let everyone know where Nico was and that he was safe. Decidedly he went over to his phone on the bedside dresser and pulled it off the charger. Quickly he dialed Rachel's number.

"Aaron? Hey," The girl answered.

"Hi," Aaron replied and he made his way out into the living room to talk with her.

* * *

It was snowing, but of course it was snowing it was winter, and winter's in New York were harsh on the best of days. Percy Jackson was seated on a campus bench, watching the white flecks of dizzying flurries fall out of the sky. He had always heard snowflakes were unique, but, morbidly it occurred to him that no matter how different, how special each snowflake it always became a part of the conformed masses. No matter how hard the flakes tried they couldn't control their own destiny, they would be blown around, tossed, scarred and broken before they even hit the ground.

Snowflakes, like everything else, were made to be destroyed. It was almost too fucking much to comprehend, something so simple as frozen, compressed water becoming too heavy in the clouds above and falling out of the sky could be a metaphor for his own life. He felt constrained, suddenly, he felt claustrophobic, like the restraining walls his father had conspicuously erected around him were now beginning to close in, and quickly.

God, his father. He could almost hear that man's audacious voice now, it was saying, "Perseus, my boy, how are you?" Wait, no, he wasn't imagining that. He looked up and standing there was Poseidon, a sharp dressed figure in black against an all white backdrop. He was wrapped in scarves and jackets and Percy hated how amiable his smile was, how jovial his eyes seemed; but, most of all what Percy hated was how much they favored.

He felt like a clone; a carbon copy. Not just his Dad, but Triton, and even Odysseus, and who knew about the armada of other children his Dad had. Percy could always remember his Dad being taller, but when he stood up he was surprised they were seeing nearly eye-to-eye now. Had he grown in the last few months he hadn't seen this man? With all the shopping his mother had him doing he never knew if he was growing or not, his clothes were always changing. But that wasn't here or there. A cold anger much more bitter than the wind around cracked through his chest like an ice pick through a frozen pond and it spiked into him, making his ball his fists. "Are you going to hit me, boy? Gonna punch your old man?"

"I ought to hit you so hard—"

"That's my son," Poseidon grinned wider and Percy's anger grew immensely, for a minute he saw red, for a minute he was sure he was going to scream. "I guess you figured out it was me? Have a seat, son, have a seat." Poseidon sat on the bench. "Winter break'll be starting soon, you wanna come spend time up at the house?"

"Why the fuck would I want to do that?" Percy growled. "I told you to leave me the hell alone and you pulled something like this? You're a fucking psychopath!" Poseidon patted the seat next to him and when he saw Percy wasn't going to sit he wrapped a very surprisingly strong arm around Percy's bicep and yanked him down onto the bench. Percy kept glaring, his willpower nearly gone and when it was he couldn't guarantee his father would be able to ever form coherent thought again from the brain trauma he was sure to cause.

"You've got a lot of hatred in your eyes, kid," Poseidon said. "I like that, it means you've got energy to spare. Energy to use—"

"What the fuck do you want from me, Dad? Why can't you just leave me alone? Why do I have to do everything your way?" Then the older man sat back in the chair and sighed heavily a small smile touching his lips, his air very visible in the air.

"Perseus," He began and suddenly Percy never wanted to be called that again. He wasn't Perseus, he was Percy, Perseus was the name his father gave him and he didn't want to have anything to do with this man. "You of all people deserve to know I suppose, Percy faggots are the bane of this society and every other society," The young brunet felt his jaw nearly break from how quickly it fell open. "I just want you to understand that men belong with women and women belong to men, son, it's not that hard a concept, that's why we're built the way we are. A man is the provider, it's against the natural order for anything else to even be considered,"

"You're—"

"I'm not done," Poseidon gave him a pointed look. "Percy, you might hate me right now but you'll come to thank me in a little while when you have a beautiful wife, and a litter of kids all your own."

"So I could, what, be a shitty father like you?" Percy didn't care about the glare he was receiving, he wrenched his arm out of his father's vice like grasp, though he felt the bones touch together when he did and he was sure he had a large bruise on his bicep now. "You don't know what's best for me, Dad, you'd have to know me first. I can't believe you fucking _paid_ people to try to fuck us."

"She is a beauty isn't she? Calypso? I hear good things from Tony, she's a little mouthy, but whoever said it was in the bad way, right?" Percy couldn't believe the greasy smile on Poseidon's face now.

"You're serious?" He asked. "I don't fucking understand what's going on, you broke me and Nico up because of some bullshit about ethics and morals but you don't care about Triton fucking every chick he sees?"

"Do you want to know the difference?" Poseidon asked.

"Yes!" Percy shouted. "Please, father, please tell me the difference?"

"The difference is she's a woman, Percy, haven't you been listening?" Poseidon reached into his coat then and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of it along with a lighter. "You old enough to smoke yet?"

"You don't even know how old I am," Percy was shaking, he could almost spit.

"Twenty…twenty-two?"

"I'm fucking eighteen! My birthday was four months ago!" Percy was screaming now. It had all been so simple four months ago, hell, it had all been so simple four _weeks_ ago. "Do you have any idea what you fucking put me through? Nico's so mad at me he won't answer my calls and I have no fucking idea where he is, his Dad hasn't heard from him, and everyone's so fucking upset with me because they think I'm a cheater! Mom won't even look at me, and Paul—the one man I respect as a father figure—just gave me the most disappointed glance I've ever seen. I see my fucking reflection in the mirror and I want to beat _myself_ up!"

"You're blowing this out of proportion, you've to understand that you weren't in a real relationship to begin with, Percy. Saying two men can be intimate and in love together is like saying there's no such thing as gravity."

Percy let out an exasperated and strangled yell, "I just want to know one thing, just one more thing?"

"Sure, kid," Poseidon replied.

"How did you find me? Why is it that you always show up when I don't want to see you?" Then Poseidon stood and he grinned widely at Percy.

"I'm your father, that's how I found you," He said. "And all teenagers hate their parents, you're not very original there." He clapped a hand on his shoulder. "I just want what's best for you."

"You don't know what's best for me," Percy was very near tears. "Don't come around here again, matter of fact, _Dad_ , don't ever talk to me again. You're not my father, you never were," Percy stepped back. "Now, if you'll excuse me I've got to find my boyfriend and make everything okay again, no thanks to you,"

Poseidon shrugged, "Do what you want," He said "You can pick your playthings, Perce, but you can't choose your family, I'll see you again, or maybe I'll see Nico, make sure he understands that you two have to stay apart." Percy couldn't hold back anymore, fury and resentment flowed through him like a jolt of electricity and before he could stop himself his fist was flying through the air at his father's face, the next thing he knew his arm was being strung up behind his back and there was a strong bicep choking his neck. "You'll come to appreciate me, son," Poseidon's minty breath was disgusting against Percy's face. "You're just like me, or, you will be when you're normal again."

Percy tried to wriggle his way out of his father's grasp but he found it was far too strong. "Let me go you fucker!"

"You know if I talked to my Dad like you talk to me he would've knocked all the teeth out of my head."

"I kind of wish he did," Poseidon let go of him.

"I hope you have a better disposition next time I see you, kid," Percy turned around, a fire in his eyes and then for the first time he noticed that standing not far off were four other figures, they were close enough that he could make out their faces but far enough away that with his father's distraction he would have never seen them, all young men. There were two incredibly tall ones, one familiar and similar to him in almost every way and not nearly as tall as Percy remembered, the other one taller than all the rest, Poseidon included, and he had a rather strange appearance about hm. He had a squared jaw, yes, but he was overly muscular and his face, which was smiling, didn't appear to have very much intelligence to it. The most strange thing about him was that his left eye was a white-blue color and stared blankly at the world around them and his other was a turquoise color. The other two were children, Percy knew only one of them.

"You brought your army of kids?"

"Some of them," Poseidon shrugged. "Should I introduce you?"

"I'd rather die," But there was a stab of pain and guilt in him because he realized Odysseus had heard him say that. "I mean I hate to think that you're our father,"

"Yet I am, and I'll continue to do what I have to to make sure you have a well planned, and pussy filled life."

"You're impossible," Percy glared.

"They don't seem to think so," Poseidon answered. "You should at least know their names," He grinned. "The big one is Tyson, he's a bit slow, blind in his left—"

"I said I don't fucking care," Percy began walking away.

"You know I'll just find you again," Poseidon's voice wafted over to him. "If a kiss can break you up once I wonder what Nico would do if he saw someone who looked oddly like you in the right light fucking that girl?"

"Just leave me the fuck alone," Percy walked away, casting one last glance in Triton's direction, and then subsequently Odie's. "I'm sorry," He said loud enough for the boy to hear then he was being pelted by snow on the way to his car.

* * *

Nico hadn't come to work with Aaron to actually do anything, really he was here because the redhead didn't want him to be alone, and yet here he was being persuaded by Gilliam to be in an expressive photo shoot. "Your last pictures came out great," He said. "I sent them to Sally, she said she'll build you a portfolio if this is something you want to continue doing."

"I'm just here to sit in the corner," Nico said.

"My dear boy we're doing emotion today, look over there," Sure enough at the make-up kiosks people were being made up in all sorts of colors and designs. "It's not just expressive it's emotive, and today you must be my pain."

"I said—" Aaron clapped a hand over his mouth.

"Just give us a second," He smiled at the photographer and Gilliam made a show of looking impatient.

"Alright, but I'll be back in two minutes. I must find where anger went anyway." Then he held his watch forward. "Two minutes." Aaron nodded and Nico fumed, he wasn't in the mood for this shit and he let Aaron know that as soon as Gilliam was gone.

"Nico, just listen to me," He replied. "I want you to keep busy, do you understand? I know you're type, mopey, despairing, you can't stay idle or you'll get swallowed up by thought, yes?"

"You brought me here on purpose didn't you? You knew Gill was short staffed," Nico accused and the redhead feigned innocence smiling widely. "Fuck."

"Fuck isn't necessarily a bad thing," He grinned. "I'm trying to keep you in good spirits,"

"What if I want to feel bad?" Nico asked, his eyes growing red.

"You can feel bad, on camera." Aaron replied. "Let all your sadness and anger out in front of the flashbulbs and the bright lights, but when it's over I want you to come out of this feeling at least well enough to talk things through with Percy, do you really think he would do something like this to you? I've seen the way he looks at you Nico; he worships the ground you walk on."

"I saw it with my own eyes, Aaron,"

"At least let him explain what you think you saw and when he's talking to you if you think he's lying then you'll have something concrete to feel all this emotion about," Then he placed his hands on Nico's shoulders. "Will you at least try for me?"

"Try to look like I'm hurting inside?" Nico gave him a broken smile. "I won't have to try,"

"There's the look I want," Gilliam made his way back over to them. "You're a natural at this, so what's the decision? Time is money, and I can't afford to waste either."

"I'll be in make-up," His voice shook and Aaron wasn't so sure this had been the best idea anymore. It had come to him on the drive in actually, Gill was always short a model, things happened, people couldn't make their flights especially with the snow outside, he was just lucky the person who couldn't show up wasn't happiness because Nico's smile right now was heartbreaking. "He alright?" Gilliam asked.

"He and Percy are having a fight," Aaron answered. Gilliam made a sound that meant he understood.

"Young love," He grinned, then he turned to the young man. "How long have you been working here?"

"Almost three years now, sir," Aaron replied offhandedly as they watched Nico being set up for a long session, his make-up would at least take an hour and forty minutes as he was being transformed into an emotion personified.

"How many sessions have I let you photograph?" Gilliam asked.

"…none, sir,"

"Mm." The man smiled. "We'll have to change that soon," Then he walked away leaving Aaron staring after him. Nico, on the other hand, watched in the mirror as he was painted and pulled this way and that. His hair had never looked more disarrayed in his opinion as it was straightened and blow-dried only to be pulled back and coifed into a sort of swooping waterfall of ink against the side of his face. He looked like the front man a punk-rock band with his hair styled like that, and then they began setting to his face, he had never really worn make-up before. The first session they washed his face and put a little concealor on the few zits he had but that was it, now his eyes were being plucked and lined in mascara, and they were using some kind of pencil and brush combination to bring out the hollows in his cheeks, making his face look emaciated. But, he wasn't thinking about how more and more they added the more fearfully thin his face began to look, without Aaron trying to distract him he was finally able to slip into his own mind. It was probably the worst place for him to be, he felt no comfort at his own thoughts but he didn't want to feel nothing at all. He loved Percy, with every fiber of his being, with every molecule and cell in his body but he wanted to be mad at him. Aaron wanted him to talk to Percy but the problem with that was that he _needed_ him more than was probably healthy and if his boyfriend…his…what was Percy to him now? If he let him apologize Nico wouldn't even need an explanation and he just hoped that Perseus felt as bad about the situation as he did, if he felt at least half the emptiness Nico was feeling then it would at least set the younger man in a better mood.

"You're done, doll," Gina said turning him to face the mirror completely. He wondered if it was make-up that made his eyes seem so red, tears sitting just on the edge. Had he always cried this easily? But he knew the answer to that. "Big tip, always thank your artist, sweetheart, or you'll make us think you don't like the job we did."

Absently Nico smiled, "Thank you, Gina,"

"Is there something wrong, sweetheart?" He glanced up at her and she smiled softly at him. "Girlfriend trouble? Boyfriend trouble, maybe?" Without thinking much about it Nico simply nodded.

"I think he cheated on me," He replied, his voice hollow.

"Men are dogs, doll, they lay down in dirt and come up with fleas," She bothered his hair.

"But he isn't like that—" Nico stopped himself. "At least I didn't think he was."

"Oh, good, Nico you're ready," Gilliam walked up behind them. "We'll get you changed into your clothes, take off that shirt and change into these pants." He held up a leotard. "The theme for today is emotion, I think young Aaron informed you of that, and you'll be playing the part of pain since my other model couldn't show up today, it should be pretty simple today, all I need are about twenty or thirty frames out of you." For the first time since he had met him Nico witnessed Gilliam smile. "Thank you for doing this, I originally wanted to call you in but Sally Jackson refuses to give me your number and Perseus won't answer his phone." Nico's heart hammered at the sound of Percy's name. "It'll be your turn soon, change quickly," Dully Nico took the leotard and began unbuttoning his shirt, and then he stepped out of Aaron's pants and pulled on the tights. "We have dressing rooms," Gilliam chuckled and Nico just stared blankly.

"Come on, Nico," Aaron said guiding the boy by the shoulders over to the set up, this time the backdrop was a simple black, there was a crate of the same color and Aaron sat him down on it. "Remember what I said, let out all of your emotions here and it'll do you a world of good, alright?" The redhead bit his lip; Nico was about to cry again but the brunet simply nodded.

"Let's go, Aaron," Gilliam called and the boy touched Nico's face then he made his way over to the photographer and stood behind him. "Alright, look at me Nico and I want to see what pains you, show me your rawest emotion."

* * *

"So you went against my wishes and you hurt my boy?" Percy wasn't being lectured, nor was he being verbally abused, he was being subjected to the worst torture possible. Di Angelo temperance, that cold anger that Hades had passed onto Nico. Percy figured it was best if he told Hades what had happened, he just hadn't gotten to the part about his father being behind everything just yet. "Begrudgingly I trusted you, Jackson, Nico forced me to accept you, promised me you loved him,"

"Hades, you have to listen to me," Percy said, he felt…God, there were no words for his despair. He had never known a hurt like this.

"I'm listening," Hades replied. "You have exactly five seconds to tell me why it is I can't get in contact with my son, and if I don't like your answer I'll be forced to remind you how good a mortician I am." It occurred to Percy that this wasn't an empty threat like most fathers said to their children's male suitors, he wasn't sure to what extent Hades would disable him but he knew the man would have no qualms about giving Percy brain damage.

"It was my father," Percy said and then told him the entire story. "I don't know what his problem is, but I swear it's all true." Where else could Percy turn? When he went home his mother broke down into tears, it might not have been the best idea to let gossip grow through the vine that he had cheated on Nico. He _had_ technically, but it wasn't what she thought. Percy had even three-way video called Grover and Annabeth to ask for advice. Grover's plan of action was for him to find Nico throw him on the nearest bed and show him how much he loved him, a plan Percy wasn't too against; but, Annabeth's plan was simply to let Nico calm down and to call him then, especially since thanks to Aaron's call to Rachel he knew where the boy was.

"Let's say I believe you," Hades said leaning forward. "I'm experiencing a lot of angry paternal instincts, what's his address and I'll get the truth one way or another."

"Honey," Persephone said, she sat beside him touching his knee. "We should focus more on finding Nico than that, besides I don't want you going to jail for manslaughter."

"I think I have enough money for bail now," Hades replied quite seriously.

"No," Persephone said sternly. "Your son comes first anyway; do you know where he is Percy? He didn't answer his phone yesterday and he's not answering today either."

"He's with our friend Aaron," Percy said. "He's safe, drove over there last night after the whole ordeal; he's not answering my calls either."

"That's because he's smart,"

"Hades, enough," Persephone gave her husband a hard look. "Can't you see Percy is hurt as well? If what he says is true then this isn't his fault either, but Nico is your son which means he got overwhelmed by his feelings." The dark man sitting next to her didn't answer, he only continued to glare at Percy. "If he wants to come home then our door is open; as long as he's safe then we won't worry about him, right dear?" She elbowed her husband. "Right, dear?"

"Right." Hades growled. "Can't I just maim Jackson a little?"

"No." Persephone said again. "Now, Percy, dear," She stood up and sat down again next to Percy on the opposite couch. "how are you feeling? I'm sure this is all difficult for you too."

"I'm—" Suddenly Percy's phone rang, he frantically grabbed for it hoping it was Nico. "Hold on," He looked at the front of it; Jason was calling him, that was weird. He wasn't sure if he was still talking to Jason, apparently the boy had been part of the entire scheme. But, resignedly he answered his call. "Hello?"

" _Hey, Percy, man, first I want to say I'm so freaking sorry for everything that happened_ ," Jason said right off the bat. " _You and Nico don't have to forgive me but you guys have been so cool to me and you've helped me and Leo out so much_ ," He paused. " _You still there_?"

"I'm still here," Percy replied. "Don't sweat it man, at least you didn't try to do to him what Callie tried to do to me."

" _I'd never do that, man_." Jason said. " _Look, I'm calling because I want to make up this whole thing—well, actually Thalia is going to help. She called our Dad and he looked over that contract that Callie had, it was the same one they were going to make Thalia sign, she kept it. Anyway, Dad's going to come down here personally to do something about all this, he's really pissed that someone was going to pay his daughter for sex, and then I think he got even more upset when he found out I took a deal from those guys too…but that's something I'll have to deal with_."

"Jason, if I were you I wouldn't get involved with my Dad," Percy said and Jason chuckled.

" _Your Dad does seem like a powerful guy_ , _Perce_ , _but I think we'll be okay_."

"As long as you know what you're getting yourself into, man," Percy said. "Keep me posted."

" _Can do_ ," Jason said, a smile in his voice. " _Later Perce_ ,"

"Bye, Jase," Percy hung up the phone and turned back to conversation at hand.

"So, about that address?" Hades asked, sitting back in his chair and crossing his arms.


	31. Chapter 31

"I don't like this," Percy said. "He's going to be super pissed, well be more than he already is,"

"It'll do him some good, I'll guard the door so he can't storm out," Rachel replied as they climbed the stairs of Aaron's apartment complex. "Why did you bring a casserole again?" She asked over her shoulder staring at the broccoli casserole Sally had sent with them, the very same casserole she had cooked before departing for a flight to Beijing.

"Mom thinks when you go to someone's house for the first time you're supposed to bring food," He shrugged. "Paul'll be upset when he sees that he has cook dinner himself since I sort of snatched this—"

"Focus Percy." The ginger girl said. "I think this is it," Then she knocked on the door they had come to and she turned back to him. "What's the game plan?"

"Apologize, explain, rinse and repeat," Percy said nodding his head.

"Nice," She knocked again with no results.

"Did you call and tell Aaron we were coming?"

"I figured they'd be here…" Rachel said. "I'm not usually wrong about this kind of stuff." Quickly she grabbed her phone from her pocket and dialed. "I can't believe they're not here." Then she grinned. "You might be out of luck, Perce, Nico probably already moved on." Percy gave her a glare that could melt the paint off of the walls and Rachel laughed.

" _Hello?_ " Aaron answered.

"Where are you guys?" Rachel replied. "We're at your house, came to apologize."

" _Um, working_ ," Aaron said with a chuckle. " _I brought Nico in with me, he's being shot_." The redheaded girl clicked her tongue in disappointment.

"That sucks," She crossed an arm under chest. "Ix-nay on that casserole, Perce, they're at the studio. How is Nico, by the way?"

" _He's trying his damndest not to cry in front of the camera and Gilliam is eating it up_ ," Said Aaron, " _I really thought this would help him but I think it's having the opposite effect_. _He_ really _misses Percy, like, it's unhealthy,_ " Rachel looked over to the aforementioned, his eyes were moving back and forth red rimmed and yearning, looking for any scrap of information she might be able to divulge.

"Yeah," She replied. "I'm dealing with the same thing. You stay there and we'll come your way,"

" _Can't, it's supposed to be a closed set I kind of took a risk bringing him here_ ," Aaron thought aloud. " _You guys can still come I guess, but you're not allowed in_ , _we'll meet you outside when you get here._ "

"Alright," Rachel said. "We're on our way."

" _As much as Nico misses him I still don't know if he'll talk to him,_ "

"We'll figure it out when we get there." Rachel sighed. "Bye."

" _Good_ - _bye_ ," She hung up the phone and glanced over to a helpless looking Percy. Clapping him on the shoulder she gave him a small smile.

"Just a little bit longer, we'll get this all sorted out. Nico'll understand what happened; you know that just as well as I do." Percy nodded and he managed to return her smile. "Give me that," She took the casserole from him. "Lead on, we're going to get your boyfriend back." For the first time in nearly forty hours Percy felt a reprieve, he was still torn about approaching Nico because he didn't want to see that hurt in his eyes, not again; but, he needed to apologize. To _really_ apologize, not to let Nico walk away upset only to never see him again. Quickly he walked down the stairs with Rachel in tow. "Slow down!" She shouted, nearly laughing. He hadn't realized he'd broken out into a run when he hit the last step, he stopped, tingeing red slightly.

"Sorry," He grinned absently, stopping just at the door of his car. Rachel smiled to herself as she finished descending the stairs. In all this mess with Percy she hadn't had the heart to tell him that she and Ethan weren't together anymore, it had been a mutual thing but it still wasn't something that she felt too good about. She shook her head and climbed into the passenger's seat.

"I'll be glad when you two get back together so life can go on," She chuckled pulling her seatbelt on, Percy did the same and turned the car over. Immediately heat poured out of the vents burning away the cold of late December. It was almost Christmas time.

"Thank you Rachel," Percy said suddenly as he pulled out onto the main street. "I really just don't know what I'd do without any of my friends."

"Don't get so mushy on me, Jackson, you're getting your boyfriend back, not winning an Academy Award." Rachel smirked. "Besides, you and Nico just work somehow. I'm not going to lie when you guys first got together I had my doubts."

"I remember," Percy said with a smile.

"I thought, 'My God, Percy's going to get a little action and Nico's going to get his heartbroken," She grinned when he gave her a hard look. "What? Guys are weird like that, they tell you they care about you and then you sleep with them and suddenly you're not anything to them anymore. It's why I always liked girls more." She hoped he didn't see the truth in her eyes and instead she looked away. "But you didn't sleep with him right off the bat, I was proud of you."

"Well, you know I _was_ still with Annabeth," Percy replied. "Besides, dealing with the fact that you can be attracted to a guy is weird; I didn't know what to think. I wanted to keep him at a distance but I know him too well, if I did that he would have blamed himself, and I wanted to get closer to him but I didn't want him to get the wrong idea— _I_ didn't want to get the wrong idea."

"And here we are," Rachel said good naturedly and they both laughed, spirits lightened, then she turned up the radio and began singing loudly The Script's Breakeven. Percy grinned over at her and mocked her and she punched his arm playfully; again they both laughed. It was sudden, so sudden that reality didn't seem to be aware of itself, for a spilt moment fate was in disarray. There was a flash of red in front of their faces and the squealing of brakes as the car in front of them tried to come to a halting stop. "Oh, shit, Percy look out!"

Quickly Percy tried to maneuver around the halting car but he felt the wheel go slack as his back tire hit a patch of ice. Percy was a good driver, he knew what to do in these situations because Paul had taught him all the practical knowledge of being behind the wheel that he needed. But, putting that practical knowledge to use was the hardest thing he had ever done.

It took everything in him not to slam on his brakes and to ride through the slick spot expertly, his car spinning around scarily. Rachel was screaming, he thought absently, and the world slowed down. In those moments where people tell you how things slowed what they meant was that thinking back everything seemed like it was happening in much less quickly than it all had, but it was in the now that Percy felt things slow. He could see everything clearly as he lost control not only of his car but of his limbs too, all of his practical knowledge and his expertly executed technique stood for nothing as the car behind him panicked as well and the sound of the driver trying to stop filled the air. The trailing vehicle came hurtling forward and the only thought Percy could think was, " _I miss Nico_ ,"

The impact was jarring and absently Percy wondered if Rachel knew how to go lax like you were supposed to in these situations. He just let go, of everything. He was really scared, but he had been really scared for a long time now. Scared that he was going to lose the love of his life, scared of everything changing so suddenly like it was now; then the car was in the air as it hit first the fore most vehicle, then jumping it hit a median and all thought left Percy's mind. Glass flew through the cab, shattering and shimmering as millions of pieces went hurling through the spaces around them. There was no gravity, there were no physical laws holding them to this or any other plane. There only _was_ , a state of being. _Was_ meant to just live, to just breath, there weren't any higher purposes or meanings to life except to live happily, to love eternally, and to laugh richly.

There only was and Percy smiled because that was a nice statement.

New York looked beautiful covered in snow, and then everything went out of focus. The blaring of his car's horn was the only sound that broke the mundane Monday air.

Blearily everything came back into view, and Percy thought he was dreaming, he must have been because last time he remembered it was Winter. Now he was sitting on the beach adjacent to Nico's grandparent's villa looking over the ocean at the gray-blue waves lapping at the sand, white froth washing up on shore.

Percy smiled to himself because he remembered that he had convinced Nico to wear those tightly cut swim shorts that showed most of his thighs and a lot of everything else; the men walking the beach seemed to be accustomed to strutting around in them. That had been a fun conversation. He looked around for Nico to find the boy was a dark haired blip halfway down the shore; the sky was a mute gray color with the clouds as prevalent as the sea before him. Strangely, though, it very warm as opposed to what the cold and stark look of the atmosphere would have anyone believe. Percy stood on white sand and called out to his boyfriend more than loud enough for him to hear, but the boy didn't turn to look at him.

That was right, Nico was upset at him; if only he had said he were sorry earlier, it was almost too late for sorry though, and much too late for what ifs. But, suddenly he wondered why he had been so afraid to apologize? Why he had ever been afraid? Fear was a falsifying element, fear was an unnecessarily present and demanding demon that could be exorcised and purified simply by confrontation.

Fear was weakness.

It all made sense now, because Nico had feared Percy would leave him for someone the very moment it seemed that such a thought was true it had confirmed his worst nightmares and those weren't something the boy could face. Nico and Percy had become complacent with each other, neither ever venturing to explore the other's fear. Percy should have done more than laugh and tell Nico he would never leave him for anyone, let alone a girl. He should have grabbed the boy by the shoulders, kissed him as hard as was possible till they were both seeing stars and pledged his heart to him and only him as many times as it took to sink in. He should have professed everyday how Nico was the only person for him, how he wouldn't leave him because he _couldn_ ' _t_ , how it was impossible. He and Nico had become like two inseparable quotients, indivisible and strong and he should have told Nico that again and again.

Percy's fear. What was Percy's fear? Was it that he couldn't be the boyfriend Nico needed? He didn't know how to be a guy's boyfriend, he had just barely done just okay with Annabeth and he ended up breaking her heart, this was a totally and completely different ballpark. It was probably easier than it should have been because Nico had loved him first, but that didn't mean he knew what he was doing. Percy had done the best that he could, and that was all he could offer. He took a step forward towards the constant of his dreaming and if his eyes deceived him the image of Nico moved just the slightest bit further away. That was strange.

He took another step and again Nico seemed to be moving away even if his body stayed perfectly still. Percy took off at a sprint, years of sports training kicking into his long and powerful legs as he dashed across the foggy beach, tossing sand in the air. Mist from the churning sea splashed across his chest and soon he was thankful for it because no matter how hard he ran Nico just stayed the same distance from him. He stopped, out of breath, and called to the young Italian again with the same results. Puzzled, Percy couldn't do anything but walk forward again.

A warbling and distant voice broke into his consciousness, "They're alive!" It screamed and he wondered what that meant. Of course he and Nico were alive; he just couldn't get to him for some reason.

"Nico—!" Percy screamed but pain broke into his entire body at the moment that air exploded down his lungs, it was like he had never taken a breath in his life before. Vaguely he wondered if this was what being born felt like. He took a step and his body crumpled onto the ground. He tried to call out Nico's name again but warm liquid burst out of his mouth, it tasted like copper and it was almost black against the snowy sand and Percy's throat began to burn. He gasped, gurgling and shot his arm into the air clawing at the sky, at the light above him as the clouds parted out and he stared into the sun blindly.

"Restrain him!" Another foreign voice yelled and Percy needed to sit up, he needed to get to his feet. The beach faded away in small bursts only to return to his sight again when he blinked, in between his involuntary blinking though he could hear the beeping of a strange machine and more voices he didn't recognize. Something was pushing against his chest. "One, two, three, suction!" More of the coppery tasting liquid flooded out of his mouth but he felt it being sucked away. What was going on?

It came flooding back to him like a freighter running down a newly built train track. "Rach—" He tried to shout but something was being shoved down his throat, he was still in burning pain but he had to know what happened to Rachel. Where was she? He blinked and he was on the beach again, Nico's smiling face staring down at him. He had his arms wrapped around the boy's barely clad body and the pain was gone, there was only sweet warmth.

"I need to get him sedated!" The voice screamed, or maybe it was only screaming over Percy's choked yelling. Tears streamed down his face as once more he was in the bright moving room with all the strange people around him speaking so quickly and with terms he couldn't understand. He would have spoken but he couldn't remember how as his mind was everywhere, and even if he had just dispelled it fear was in his chest again, though this time not a fear of change. This was a fear of death, that plaguing thought that existentially hit every last human being when he or she felt like they were teetering on the precipice of this world and the next and Percy was unsure of anything anymore in one moment, and in the next where Nico's smile met him he knew he was going to be okay, but the two shifting parallels kept him blinking rapidly till he couldn't move his eyelids anymore.

Finally unconsciousness fell upon him and Percy found himself in a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Zeus Grace was a man of business, he ran Grace Industries—which was basically a renaissance company like that of G.E. or what have you. He had his hand in everything from foreign oil to stock exchanges to Barbie dolls and the food industry. Zeus Grace did not have a lot of time on his hands, considering he was one of the select handful of men who helped to run the free world, economically and socially, in fact that was the reason his first wife left him, the mother of his two children, Hecate—what could he say? Her parents had been born in the forties, which meant that when they came of age for children they were hippies and their children would have hippy names. He didn't have any of that for his children though. For his boy: Jason, a nice strong name. For his daughter: Thalia, named after his own mother. Zeus was a man who was quick, efficient and made it look like he had accomplished anything he did without much effort.

In short: Zeus Grace got shit done. Of course, with a trophy on his arm like Hera how could he lose? She was his current, and apparently long time, wife. She had made it known to him that they weren't getting a divorce—ever. She didn't believe in divorce and he could cheat, and scheme, and sneak around as much as he wanted to but he could never get rid of her. Zeus liked her fire, and of course he did all those things but he had a sneaking suspicion he wasn't alone in his unfaithfulness. Besides, Hera had her own string of maternal care stores she ran, she had business dealing with Gerber and Fisher Price and just about all of the big name children's companies, she was as busy as he was. So what if he brought a waitress home with him when he was visiting over in Syria? She might fuck a pool boy while he was away. What they had worked and he damn sure wasn't going to let someone like her get away. They were quite the pair. Zeus with his big Grecian profile, high forehead, thick eyebrows, even thicker midnight shoulder length hair, and rugged good looks and Hera with her own Eastern European look, there was a delicateness to her off set by the sharp tone of her eyes. High cheek bones, thin lips, oval face and all.

Currently they were visiting with the children, both of whom Hera was not the largest fan of, but she dealt with Zeus' family matters when they arose because they were so few and far between and marriage was all about sacrifices. Problems seemed to have sprouted all over the large, bustling city of New York, and the surrounding areas. Problems his son seemed to be just barely caught in, but caught all the same.

The thing was, his son was gay. Well, that was nothing new, Zeus had known his son was a flamer the moment he saw the boy going through his mother's closet at the age of two and walking out with a boa wrapped around his neck and mismatched high heels on his feet—the next year Jason would get a hold of the stapler in Zeus' study and try to take a bite out of it, only to get the small silver scar that was still above his lip.

"You're telling me," Zeus said, his loud voice booming across his old home. There were a lot of memories here for him, most of them good, but quite a few of them undesirable. He might have kept himself busy so he didn't have to continue to come back here. He had missed most of both of his children's lives by always being gone and there was no making it up to them, but he had endless reserves of cash so if all else failed he might try to buy their love. Jason was eighteen now, probably about time he got a new car. And Thalia, well, what was she on about now? Female equality? Animal rights? Saving the Rainforest? Something or another, he never really kept up with his daughter's interests outside of the sports world, she had quite the pitcher's arm and he had enjoyed watching her play softball what seemed like a millennium ago. "That this guy, Poseidon, approaches you and you signed a contract by him?" He asked trying to get this entire conspiracy under wraps. He looked to his daughter, she looked more like him than Jason did, but that was because his genes were stronger in her. Thalia had his forehead, but her mother's face, which he would admit was beautiful. But what Zeus loved seeing the most was the shock of white in her hair. It was the same in his beard, stark black except straight down the middle where there was an un-dye-able field of snow.

Quickly Thalia explained it all to him again and he tried not to smile too widely at how precise and business like she was, just like her old man. "That's about it, but I think if you look at the contract you'll be able to find something, if anyone can it's you." True. Zeus _had_ graduated Yale top of his class, highest marks in the entire history of the prestigious establishment, but he went into business instead of law, though he did still flirt with Lady Justice periodically.

"Let me see it," He said and he reached a big hand out to her and took the contract. Quickly he looked over it, a lot of wording that was basically sort of a lock in for whoever signed it. Slaves, those were illegal, but indentured servants? Well, that was just fine. Zeus continued to look it over, it was disgusting really. The contract was obviously drawn up for a woman, though paperwork was supposed to have no gender preference, and it had a pretext of being hired for "selective services" that "would be described at the contractor's leisure" which meant that basically this Poseidon guy could tell whoever signed this to do whatever he wanted. "They wanted you to sign this?" He asked Thalia, anger touching his already loud voice.

"I didn't, Dad." She said. "But knucklehead here signed something similar," Zeus turned to Jason, the boy had his eyes and his smile, his height and his build, at least Zeus saw himself in the shape of Jason's face, but it had been softened by the boy's mother and he had her hair color. It was a good mix, he and Hecate had made some handsome children together.

"Let's see it, Knucklehead," Zeus replied holding his hand out, Jason wouldn't meet Zeus' eyes—probably because the older man had immediately asked to meet this "Leo" kid. Leo wasn't even really a name, it was like a shortening for a name, surely he was Leonardo or something like that. It _couldn't_ be just Leo, but Hera had told him on the flight over that he could not dislike anyone Jason was dating because his name didn't suit the business mogul. His son handed him a more crumpled, and slightly less eloquent version of Thalia's letter, basically it was the same principal but it didn't have anything on it about having "products sampled by the contract holder, or partners of the contract holder," Which Zeus took to mean something horrid, something he definitely did not want to think about. Zeus was a lecherous man, sure. What man didn't think about getting some tail every free thought he had? But Zeus would never contractually obligate a woman to sleep with him, or to sleep with anyone really. "I think I'm starting to get an idea for a counter-defense against this guy," He said looking them both over. "First I want to meet him though," Zeus stroked his salt and pepper beard, it made his strong face even stronger and his icy blue eyes, nearly gray, were almost as sharp as Hera's as he examined the paperworks even closer. "Complete and utter bullshit," He growled.

"Language," Hera said, the first word she had spoken since they'd touched down.

"Damn it woman, I won't be told how to speak." Zeus said turning his vision on her, she examined her nails and then slowly looked up, her eyes near dagger tips.

"Fine." She conceded, but he knew he was going to get hell for this later, then she crossed her arms again and sat back in her chair. Zeus rolled his eyes and turned back to his children, both of whom looked as if they didn't know what to say now.

"So…" He said awkwardly not that he had gone over the business; he placed the contracts in his lap. "How have you guys been? Haven't seen either one of you in—"

"Twelve years, Dad," Thalia answered for him.

"That long, huh?" He asked, then he whistled. "Well, uh, I'm here now. I've missed you two," He said and he figured it would have been Thalia that was the most upset with him, but she smiled a grin that he knew was his own.

"Whatever, old man, you didn't miss us," She said. "But I'm glad you came to help our friends out."

"And your brother," Zeus said patting Jason's knee. He remembered how the boy used to be so small he could carry him on his shoulders—had it really been twelve years? He sighed, deflating slightly, but he couldn't do anything about that now.

"Who cares about him?" Thalia asked with a smile and ruffled Jason's golden hair, he grinned at her and for the first time he didn't hate his Dad so much, it was nice to see him again at least. There was a knock on the door and all the parties inside turned to it. It opened and there was a red eyed Leo. Jason stood when he saw tear tracks running down the boy's face.

"What's wrong, Leo?" Jason asked and the younger teen found his way into Jason's arms. Hera gripped Zeus' arm before he could stand and the father of two sat back, crossing his arms silently.

"It's Percy and Rachel," He said, trying not to cry. "They got in a car crash,"

"What?" Jason breathed, his eyes searching Leo's face for hint of foul play. Absently he heard Thalia stand, but he kept his attention trained on his boyfriend. "A car crash? When?"

"This morning, they were rushed to the hospital…I was calling Nico but he didn't answer so I called Percy's house and his Mom answered, she told me the whole thing, she and her husband are on their way over there right now."

"Are they alright?" Thalia asked, her hand brought up to her chest. "Shit." She said, her eyebrows drawn together.

"I don't know," Leo replied. "I don't know. I can't get a hold of Nico, he still not answering his phone and I know he'll kick himself if he doesn't know about what's going on." Leo sighed heavily and Jason hugged him tighter. "I'm going over there, I sent Mom that way already she and Sally really got along." He said.

"To the hospital? We'll come with you," Thalia answered.

"I'll drive," Zeus said standing up. "Are you coming my dear?" He looked over at Hera who uncrossed her arms and stood up as well.

"It's either that or be left here with your ex-wife, I suppose so, maybe I can do something for the poor dears who got injured," Was the woman's reply, then as if one big agreement had been voiced they all exited the large room that had once been Zeus' study now turned drinking and smoking area courtesy of Hecate who didn't want to do it anywhere in the house but in here and soon they were all boarding into Zeus' rented car and barreling down the road towards the hospital.

* * *

Nico sighed. His phone had been ringing off the hook all day now, he was really very disappointed because Aaron had been planning to trick him into meeting Percy after the photo shoot, then he was even more disappointed when his…when Percy didn't show. To him there really was only one reason why Percy wouldn't show up and that was if he knew he was guilty. He pulled out his phone again; he didn't want to talk to Sally so he ignored the call.

"You _really_ should answer that thing," Aaron was saying to him as they sat in Central Park, Nico didn't want to be cooped up all day today so they were just watching families walk back and forth, but now the sun was long since gone down. "It's been ringing nonstop since we left the studio,"

"I don't—"

"Nuh-uh, next time it rings you answer it, seriously." The redhead said. "You and Percy have barely gone a day and a half without each other and everyone is trying to get you back together, this is so sad," He grinned and ruffled Nico's hair, which was met by him being swatted away. Then Nico's phone was ringing for the umpteenth time. "Go on, answer it."

"Someone better be dying," Nico growled. "I hate this thing." He looked down at the screen of it and saw that it was his father. His Dad had been kind enough only to have called once before, if he answered anyone it was probably best that it was him. "Hey, Dad—" He started, then Hades interrupted him and Nico's face grew pale, ashen.

"What?" Aaron asked. "What's going on?" Nico shushed him as he listened to his father speak; suddenly the boy was near tears.

"No, oh God, no." His voice trembled, the young ginger man heard something on the other side of the phone and then Nico put away the telecommunication device. For a moment he just stared over the darkened park, his eyes glossy and more tears fell down his face.

"What is it, Nico?" Aaron asked.

"Percy's been in a car wreck," Nico said sullenly, then he was standing up gathering the borrowed coats he had taken from the studio and pulling them around his shoulders. "We have to go, we have to go now Aaron!" There was a moment of comprehension in the ginger young man's eyes and then he nodded.

"Alright, yeah, okay." The redhead was running behind Nico the next moment, both young men sprinting across the frozen park until they came to Aaron's parked car, there wasn't any time for speaking, they both ducked into the vehicle and were quickly rushing off.

It took hardly any time to get to the right hospital considering traffic, and before the car came to a complete stop Nico had the door open. Aaron watched him run off and sighed, he had to find a parking space first. Nico was suddenly a man determined though, he rushed through the automatic doors and came up to the front desk staring the young looking receptionist in the face with frantic eyes. "Percy Jackson or Rachel Dare's room, please?" He asked and she turned to the computer.

"I'm sorry, visiting hours are over," She said. "Come back in the morning, or get here before eight,"

"But—"

"Are you immediate family?" She asked looking through the log.

"He's my boyfriend," Nico said pleadingly. "I have to see him, or Rachel, she's my best friend." The woman looked up from her monitor and shook her head.

"I can't let you in unless you're immediate family," She said. The next moment Aaron was standing beside Nico and the young brunet turned to him.

"She won't let us in," He said sourly, eyes gushing from both frustration and anger at himself. His selfishness had caused this too, if he would have just forgiven Percy right off the bat they wouldn't be in the predicament.

"I'm Rachel Dare's brother," Aaron said. "And this is her cousin, let us in, now."

"Her whole family is already in there," The woman said. "Look, I'm not trying to be mean, this is just my job. I _can't_ let you in."

"They're with me," Sally. Nico looked up to see Sally Jackson standing in the doorway that led to a hallway full of patient's rooms. "Hey, Nico, sweetie," She said softly, and the young men could hear the sadness in her voice. "Come on," She motioned for them and Nico and Aaron quickly walked past the receptionist who only opened her mouth and closed it again, shaking her head.

"Sally—"

"They're both okay, or at least they will be." She said distantly. "The car in front of them lost control and Percy tried to get around it, but apparently he hit a bad ice patch and the car behind them pushed them into the median, the car flipped." She informed as they walked through the hall. "Percy has three broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a broken leg, Rachel broke her arm and has a lot of scrapes and bruises, but otherwise she came out okay." Then they were stopping outside of a closed door. "I'm glad you could make it," She said a small smile touching her otherwise sad face.

"I'm sorry," Nico turned his eyes down to the floor, still crying. "I'm so sorry." Sally sat on her haunches and put both hands on Nico's shoulders.

"It's okay," She hugged him. "Percy told me everything that happened, he explained it all to me and when he's awake I think he'll want to tell it to you too. Just…hear him out okay? It's not what you think." Nico hugged her back tightly and she touched the top of his head. "I wish you boys would just stay together, our home just isn't the same without you two in it, together." Nico looked Sally over for the first time, she looked haggard. Her hair was in disarray and her eyes were red and slightly sunken in.

"Are you okay?" Nico asked and she wiped at her face.

"I was halfway around the world when I got the call from Paul that Percy had crashed," She said standing up. "I touched down in Germany, and hopped on the first jet home. Don't worry about me." She kissed his forehead. "Go see him, he's still asleep. After that Rachel's awake, but she and her Dad are spending some time together. Your friends are waiting in the lobby,"

"My friends?"

"Jason and the others," She supplied. "We're all holed up in there, I don't like what Poseidon's put you all through. I'm going to find him and—"

"Sally," Paul's arms wrapped around her as he stepped out of Percy's room and he shushed her. "Come on, let's go to the waiting room, there's nothing else we can do right now." Paul, too, looked tired and Nico realized it was nearing midnight. "Hey, Neeks," Paul patted his shoulder as he ushered Sally away.

"I think I'll stop in and say hey to Rachel if it's all the same to you," Aaron said. "Go see your boyfriend." Nico nodded, his head dizzy and his heart pounded. Looking over his shoulder he saw Aaron give him a reaffirming nod and Nico gulped, then he opened the door.


	32. Chapter 32

It was dark inside of that hospital room. That was the first thing Nico thought, dark and sterile smelling and cold. It was no place for Percy who was always so bright and warm; the curtains were drawn so even the moonlight couldn't break the bleakness of the small room. Nico opened it and stared across the parking lot for a moment, he was afraid to turn around, he was afraid to see Percy hurt. He had intentionally avoided looking at him as he entered. Nico watched as cars pulled into the lot and drove out of it. It wasn't fair, the world shouldn't have still been turning, people shouldn't have still been bustling about. Didn't they know that his boyfriend was injured? Didn't they know that his best friend had broken her arm? He felt a tear fall out of his eye and silently Nico wondered when life had become so confusing.

Once, what seemed like a long while ago, he had a hold of his life and the things that happened in it. Once, forever passed, he was the king of his destiny, the sovereign of his fate. Love took what might have been written in stone and could turn it to rubble, into plaster, into dust. Nico had no idea where his life _might_ have been going, maybe he would have attended college, maybe he would have gotten a job in some shithole somewhere. But, then he thought, I wouldn't trade this for anything. Not the wreck, mind you, the love.

There was a weak cough from the middle of the room and slowly Nico turned, only to be met by half lidded crystalline blue eyes. Eyes that made Nico's chest tight, that made his face flare and his knees knock. Percy's eyes could do just about everything to Nico and now they made him tear up all over again. "Hey, Nicky," Percy croaked from the bed. That was all it took, tears flowed down his cheeks and absently Nico wondered when he had become such a crybaby. Percy was hooked up to several machines, tubes in his nose and his arms and his hands. One with an IV that looked like it was full of blood, the other was with a clear liquid that dripped slowly, maddeningly. Nico made his way over to the bed and grabbed the railing of it. "This really sucks," Percy coughed, smiling painfully.

"Then don't talk, just sleep." Nico said, his voice quavering and his lip worried between his teeth.

"There's that lip again," Slowly Percy reached up and thumbed Nico's mouth. "What'd I tell you about that?" Suddenly Nico was sobbing, his red eyes darting back and forth and staring down into the utmost of perfections. He nearly crumpled from the weight of his guilt, his whole body shaking and his grip on the rail became white knuckled as he wrenched his hands on the bar. Percy gave a wheezing laugh and then he coughed, a small amount of blood dribbling out of his mouth. He was pale, paler than Nico had ever remembered Percy being. The older teen had always been kissed by the sun, as if he spent every day at the beach shirtless, bronze and beautiful. "What're you crying for? I'm the one who got in an accident,"

"Shut up," Nico cried. "Stop trying so hard, just get some rest."

"But I've got something I need to tell you," Percy said. "I'm so sorry, Nicky, I'm so very sorry." Then he grabbed Nico's hand, at least Percy was still warm to the touch.

"You're forgiven," The younger teen replied, desperately trying not to bite his lip in effort of not screaming. "Sleep, please." He said pleadingly.

"No." Percy returned in an almost harsh voice. "Not till I explain. It was my Dad, Nico; he was paying Calypso to try to seduce me. She didn't, we kissed, yeah. One time because I was drunk, and that time you saw. I can't make it up to you, but I can die trying. If you take me back I won't ever make you cry again, Nico, maybe from happiness," He grinned weakly and Nico held back a chuckle, the bed ridden boy was just so detestable when Nico wanted to be mad at him for not listening. "I can't make you forgive me—"

"I told you to shut up." Nico said, glaring at him now. "You're forgiven, I don't care if you fucked Calypso sideways, you're forgiven. I _love_ you Percy, I was just mad, okay? I missed you—shit—we weren't apart for a full two days and I missed you like I hadn't seen you in years. I can't sleep when you're not around, Percy, I can't eat, it hurts to breathe." He was staring Percy down hard now. "So be quiet, you dumbass, get some rest or I'll do what that car couldn't."

"Can I ask you one thing?" Percy said, squeezing Nico's hand harder now. The younger man nodded. "When I get out of here will you wear a nurse's outfit for me and give me a sponge bath?" There was that damnable smile, that fucking lopsided grin and those dimples. Nico let out an unbelieving huff of air, scoffing and eyes growing wide.

"Percy you have a punctured lung!" He shouted.

"Doc patched me up nice," Percy grinned. "Don't avoid the question, baby."

"You're incorrigible."

"Insatiable even," If it were possible his smile grew wider...

"You do know big words," Nico said and finally he gave in, smiling a relieved and thoughtful smile. "And the answer is: get some sleep and I'll tell you." Percy's face was pained suddenly as he attempted to move. "What're you doing?" Nico asked angrily. Percy didn't answer; he scooted over on the bed though his eyes were squeezed together in agony. "Percy!"

"Lay down beside me," Percy finally said, out of breath. "I can't sleep when you're not around either." The young Italian looked at him with anger in his eyes. "You know I like it when you're pouting."

"I can't stand you," Nico put the rail down and carefully maneuvered under all the wiring going into his boyfriend and he climbed into the bed, surprised when he felt Percy's arms around him, they were shaking slightly but firm as they held him close.

"I love you too," Percy grinned, kissing the top of his boyfriend's head.

"Will you go to sleep now?" Nico asked and there was a chuckle in his ear.

"I'll try, but I'm losing a lot of blood, it's flowing in the wrong direction." Nico abstained from answering, but he was pleased to hear Percy joking at least. For a moment they were just happy to be laying in each other's arms once again, hearts and soul filled to the brim with more drama than either needed, this was a nice change. Maybe now their relationship could blossom properly, not that it hadn't been beautiful before, but the first big fight was always the hardest and they had survived it. Literally. Nico smiled to himself, he was trying not to lean again Percy too much so the older boy could be comfortable but not thirty seconds after he made the lewd comment Percy's breathing became shallow and he was sleeping peacefully, finally letting his medicine do its job.

Nico sighed and made his way out of Percy's arms; afraid to do any further damage, but he stayed in the bed. He swore if Percy weren't half dead he might have hit him, and then kissed him, and then kissed him a lot more. Smiling to himself Nico closed his eyes, he was so tired, this whole ordeal had left him exhausted. It didn't take long for him to follow behind Percy in way of sleeping, and though it had seemed like forever since they had been civil they had picked up right where they had left off.

It left him feeling warm, but when Percy woke up he had an apology of his own to give.

* * *

Rachel Elizabeth Dare was a lot of things, but most recently she was hospitalized. She wasn't as bad off as Percy, she had broken her leg and a few of her insides were bruised but she would live. Hell, they would both live, but Percy was still hurt pretty bad. At the moment, though, Rachel was almost happy, almost. Okay, she was pretty happy.

Her Dad was nodding off in the chair beside her, his ruffled and thick rust colored hair in complete and utter disarray which was a thing in and of itself because most times her father was a coifed and iron straightened man. He had sent his wife and three stepchildren to the waiting room, and then after a few hours he finally sent them home but he had opted to stay with her. Rachel was almost smiling, almost. Okay, she was smiling. But the reasons weren't _just_ because of her father. Yes, she loved that he was still here and she wanted to get out of the damned hospital bed and walk—er, hobble—around for a while but there was someone who wasn't going to let her do that at all. Thalia Grace was smiling from the other side of her bed, just sitting there staring softly at Rachel. She was really pretty in the low lights of her room, cast in the warm glow of the television that neither of them were paying attention to. Thalia sat back in her chair and crossed not only her arms but her legs as well.

"So you just broke up with this guy?" She asked as they were in mid-conversation.

"Well, yeah," Rachel shrugged. "I thought I really liked him, but he was just cute. He was too smart, you know? Don't get me wrong I like going out with smart people, but he corrected me at every turn he got, just tried to make me feel stupid I guess."

"Which would probably be impossible," Thalia said. She and Rachel had been getting along for a while; when Percy and Nico or Thalia's brother and Leo were too busy for anyone else they found time to hang out with each other, a lot of time. Like, Thalia would walk Rachel to class, or to lunch, crash on Rachel's couch, watch music videos with her, all that stuff. It didn't start getting slightly amorous till the day before Percy and Nico's D-Day, they had just been sitting on the bed together, Rachel cuddled up with a book leaning heavily on Thalia's shoulder and the aforementioned girl with her head on Rachel's, there hadn't been any words, just warm feelings.

"Thanks," Rachel gave a small smile.

"You'll find someone else, I'm sure, some other guy." Thalia grinned.

"Well, you know I think I'm leaving guys alone for a while," Rachel said. "Guys are too whiney, right?"

"I think the same thing," Thalia laughed. "Threw me for a loop when I found out Jason was into 'em, I was like: why?" She chuckled. "But I won't lie I can be pretty into them myself from time to time. Like that Triton guy before I found out how much of an incredible douche he is."

"It's always the pretty ones," Rachel nodded. "I've never been gender biased though."

"What is gender but a word that tries to define something that's indefinable? Something those who are too small minded and too opinionated throw around when they're trying to make a point, though in reality they're only furthering their own stupidity," The pinstriped girl replied with a shrug. Then she cleared her throat and looked away as it was apparent Rachel wasn't asking for a dissertation. It was quiet for a moment but eventually she turned her vision back over the redheaded girl, she took Rachel's hand. "I'm glad you're okay." She stood, smiling because Rachel was smiling. "I should probably go, visiting hours are way past over." The redheaded girl didn't let go of her.

"We're pretty close, you and me." She said with a huge grin all her own. "I've got a secret to tell you, come here." Rachel pulled her closer and for one halting moment Thalia's heart thumped in her chest, a million things were suddenly flying through her head. Rachel's hands were rough and calloused, the hands of an artist, but her lips were soft; softer than she would have ever expected. The contradiction was nice. So nice in fact that Thalia deepened the innocent kiss, causing Rachel to laugh. The ginger girl was an immaculate kisser; she knew how to hold her mouth such that Thalia could feel every muscle and fevered movement. The next thing the nearly raven haired girl knew there were fingers wrapped around her waist and she was being pulled over the railing of the bed.

"Rachel!" Thalia laughed only to have her neck attacked. "Rachel your Dad!"

"Let's leave him out of this, I'm not into that," Rachel licked her lips, and then she was kissing Thalia hard again, being mindful of her cast, the thing was clunky and troublesome.

Finally the darker teen pulled back, her need for air was too great and she felt dizzy. There was a heavy blush against her otherwise crème colored cheeks and Rachel couldn't help but chuckle. "This is a little fast, really fast actually," She said, kissing Rachel again slowly almost as if she didn't care. "You just broke up with your boyfriend."

"He broke up with me," Rachel Elizabeth Dare replied.

"Well then he's an idiot," Thalia gripped her shoulders while Rachel wrapped the fingers that weren't bound in plaster in the girl's salt and pepper hair.

"A really smart idiot," Rachel laughed as they broke again for air. "But we should slow down; I just wanted to make sure you were giving me the right vibes."

"What? Was the neon 'I'm totally into you' sign on my forehead not blunt enough?" Thalia asked, trying to will away the uncharacteristic blush on her cheeks. She didn't get flustered like this, she was the one that made guys and girls get flustered, but there was an experience inside of Rachel, something that made Thalia nearly surrender then and there to her, an awesomeness so encompassing that she overloaded her senses of right and wrong. "I'll come visit you in the morning."

"It is the morning." Was the reply and Rachel's fingers were incessant that she be kissed again as Thalia was pulled down once more, it seemed like they would be forever pulling back from kisses. Finally Rachel said, "But you're right, I'll see you when you get back and we'll do this right. I'll introduce you to my old man." She tossed her head in the direction of her heavily sleeping father, his glasses falling off of his face as he snored lightly. "Sound good to you?" Thalia nodded and smiled.

"Can't wait," Then she got up, readjusting herself and making sure that she wasn't visibly aroused through her shirt. She quickly shouldered her jacket because yes, in fact, she was. She blew a kiss over her shoulder which Rachel caught and winked and then she made her way out of the room. Rachel grinned to herself and then settled back into her considerably more comfortable bed, the sound of her father's snores and the low chatter of the television making everything seem the least bit better. Or maybe that was cherry flavored lip balm, which she certainly didn't wear. Rachel just smiled and watched as Craig Ferguson interviewed some celebrity she knew nothing about.

* * *

"So you're Leo?" Zeus finally found himself able to ask. They were all still in the waiting room and he had no idea where his daughter had gotten off to either, but she was a big girl. They were pretty much alone, Hera decided she had needed a smoke break and Sally had joined her. Now there was only that Paul guy sitting in the corner talking quietly to a tall gentleman he had been introduced to named Hades who had a pretty sleeping woman leaning on his arm. There was also a sleeping redheaded boy sitting next to Paul but Zeus couldn't tell if he was related to the girl Percy had crashed with or not, he thought that if he were he would have been in the room with the girl's father. But he had no idea how other people's family dynamics worked, he pushed the kid out of his head and turned back to the conversation at hand.

"Yes, sir," Leo said, he was meeting Zeus directly in the eye. Zeus liked that. They shook hands and he was even further pleased by the firmness of the handshake. A nice strong grip, Jason could do worse.

"Well it's nice to meet you, Leo. What'd you do? School?"

"I'm a mechanic," Leo replied, standing as tall as he could—which between Jason and his father wasn't very tall at all. "I work in my Mom's shop in Brooklyn."

"Ah, Brooklyn, I'm from the South side of Brooklyn you know? Moved away when I was nine," Zeus grinned. "A mechanic? You like to keep your hands busy do you?" Leo grinned absently.

"I'm good at it, maybe I'll go to school and then open my own shop."

"Leo's a great mechanic, Dad," Jason said smiling, he put his hands on Leo's shoulders. "I'm pretty sure he could build a car from the ground up."

"I have before," Leo nodded. "'74 Firebird, it was beautiful,"

"A man with taste," Zeus sat back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Maybe you're not so bad off, Jason, if you can pick someone like this."

"Thanks," Leo and Jason said at the same time and Zeus smiled to himself. Suddenly the doors to the waiting room opened and everyone inside turned to see three figures being ushered in by Sally and Hera.

"Grover, Annabeth, Juniper," Paul said standing up. "What're you guys doing here?"

"Winter break," Grover answered unhappily, he was wearing shorts and he looked rather uncomfortable. "It's warmer in Florida." Then his face turned somber. "This is a pretty crappy way for Winter break to start."

"Yeah," Annabeth agreed, they all had suitcases in hand. "Mine doesn't actually start for another week, but I'm kind of ahead in all of my classes. It was getting boring grading papers for my professors." Paul shook hands with Grover, then he hugged both Annabeth and Juniper.

"We would have stopped in to see Percy but Nico's in there," Juniper said with a small smile. "And all the lights are off in Rachel's room so I figured she was sleeping."

"Is anyone hungry? I can order a pizza," Sally said, her cell phone out immediately.

"I want you to try to get some sleep," Paul said sternly. "You haven't smoked in years I don't know why you decided you needed a cigarette now." Sally glared at him for a minute but then she sighed and leaned against his chest.

"I'm sorry," She said and he kissed the top of her head. "I know, I shouldn't have, but can you blame a girl for being stressed out? My baby was in an accident."

"He's not a baby anymore, Salls," Paul said, rubbing soothing circles in her back. "He'll be alright, you know you and he are notorious for your survival skills." Sally grinned a bit and she accepted a kiss on the lips.

"He'll always be my baby, thank you very much," She replied and stepped out of his arms. "Maybe I could use a little sleep though."

"Good, I'll order a pizza, you go sit down please, Misses Seven Hour Jet Ride." Paul ordered and Sally gave him a small smile.

"I love you, Professor," She said and he smiled back.

"I love you too," Then he directed her towards the chairs and he turned to the kids. "Grover I know you're always hungry, what do you want—Meat Lover's?" Grover shrugged.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter to me." Grover shrugged.

"Jason?" Paul turned to Jason. "What can I get you guys? Juniper and Annabeth eat Veggie so I don't need to worry about them."

"Meat Lover's is cool," Jason shrugged. "What do you want, Leo?"

"That's fine," Leo said and quickly Paul was making the call to the pizza place. Grover, Annabeth and Juniper took their seats near Jason and Leo and Zeus, who was suddenly preoccupied with securing an arm around Hera's waist and speaking softly in her ear.

"So you're Jason?" Grover asked taking Juniper's hand in his own, he was sleepy but he wasn't rude.

"Yeah, man, nice to meet you," Jason said and he shook Grover's other hand. "I just wish it were under different circumstances, man."

"Me too," Grover agreed. "Percy's told me a lot about you, Jason, you seem like a cool guy," The blond young man grinned absently.

"Thanks." He said. "This is Leo, my boyfriend." Leo's ears tinged slightly red, he was still very unused to being called that and it elated him more than words could say. "Hi," He grinned shaking Grover's hand then Juniper's and lastly Annabeth's.

"This is Juniper, and this is Annabeth," Grover introduced. "Girlfriend and best friend respectively." After introduction were over they made small talk for a while, the looming thought of two injured friends lying not thirty feet away from them at the back of everyone's minds, but it was best that they just let them sleep and heal. Finally, after gorging themselves on pizza and coke, sleep took hold of all who were inside. Zeus offered to front the money for everyone to stay at the hotel down the block but it was refused with thanks.

Thalia showed up when most of the pizza was gone, but she wolfed down two cold slices of pepperoni and formally met the others. Then they all waited for morning to come to greet the others.

* * *

The sun was quickly up, the cold late December air fought back harshly by the now heavily blowing heater in Percy's room. The handle of the door jiggled and Nico's eyes slowly opened, he was happy to hear the beep of Percy's heart monitor, it was a steady and pleasant sort of sound so late in the morning, it was nearly noon. Then he closed his eyes again, snuggling in closer to his boyfriend and pulling the covers around them more, he didn't remember getting under the sheets so it must have been either the nurses or Sally who had placed them over the two sleeping boys.

The door opened and Nico popped an eye open as well, but he squeezed it closed the moment he saw who was coming into the room. Poseidon was, as always, dressed in his Sunday best. He only had two boys with him today, Triton and Odysseus, at least that was what Nico had observed in the glimpse he had gotten of them.

"Looks like they're back together, Pop," He heard Triton whisper, though it wasn't really a whisper because they were standing right there at the bed.

"Can we go, please Dad?" Odie asked in a pleading sort of voice. "Can't we just leave Percy alone? He's hurt." Nico's heart was hammering in his chest and all the good feelings he had just felt melted away in his chest.

Poseidon ignored his younger son, "Don't they just look fucking cozy?" His voice was a harsh growl; it grated on Nico's ears. "The boy's thick, he just won't understand until he realizes what's so wrong with this. Take the picture, we'll Photoshop the faggot laying in bed with another guy, maybe that'll shake Perseus a little bit."

"Daddy—" Nico didn't know how Odie was silenced but the boy gave a small whine after there was a very definitive thumping sound.

"Hush." Poseidon nearly hissed. "Don't you ever talk back to me again, you hear me? You're already in deep enough shit as it is for leaving the house without permission." Then Poseidon's voice took on a more soothing quality. "Do it, Tony."

Before he heard the camera snap Nico heard the door open again, "Oh, what the fuck?" That was his father's voice. He opened his eyes then to see Hades march into the room alone. "What the fuck is going on here? Who the hell are you?"

"I think that's pretty evident," Poseidon replied and Nico saw a very familiar smile creep across his face. "The question is, who are you? Marching into my son's room like this, are you a doctor?" Then the tall, almost graying man smiled. "No…no, you're this kid's father. The faggot's Dad."

"Watch you fucking tongue before I cut it out of your mouth, pal." Hades threatened, standing just as tall as Poseidon. "What in the seven hells do you think you're doing in here? What's the camera for, pervert?"

"Oh, no, nothing like that" Poseidon said. "A little project my sons and I are doing, photo-editing,"

"Dad are you going to let this guy talk to you like—"

"Keep it closed, kid." Hades interrupted. "I remember you from before; I see where you get that dirty fucking mouth of yours." Then his eyes were on Poseidon's again. "Let me make this perfectly clear to you: don't you come around my kid again, understand? I reserve the right to fuck you up."

"Are you threatening me?" Poseidon asked with a greasy smile.

"What're you, slow?" Hades returned, his fists shaking. "You put that kid through hell and I won't see him like that again, as for Percy—well I'm actually kinda fond of him, he doesn't need scum like you in his life, so back off or the same applies."

"Sir—"

"No, he has every right to threaten you," A new voice said and a man Nico had never seen before walked into the room next. He wasn't as tall as either of the other older men, but he had a strong look to him, a streak of white in his beard and product tamed, neatly combed hair. If it were possible he was dressed in a suit that made Poseidon's look almost shabby in comparison, and Poseidon was wearing an incredibly nice suit. "Zeus Grace, Grace Industries, attorney at law," Zeus smiled widely.

"Poseidon Jackson," Poseidon said extending his hand. "Jackson Waterworks, marine biologist,"

"Well, Mr. Jackson, I'm glad that I'm meeting you right now," Zeus said reaching into his suit jacket he pulled out a folded piece of paper. "You've been served, Mr. Jackson."

"A subpoena?" Poseidon laughed. "What is this?"

"You just said it, a subpoena for you to appear in court," Zeus said mimicking Poseidon's greasy smile.

"Oh? And what are you suing me for?"

"Two cases of prostitution, one case of attempted prostitution, emotional trauma, physical harassment—shall I go on?" Zeus asked.

"Prostitution?"

"Yup," The shorter man said. "Those "contracts" of yours were really just elaborately disguised ways of prostituting young girls—one of them being my daughter—and one boy—my son. I'll see you rot in jail for as long as is possible you sick fuck."

"Listen here—" Poseidon stepped forward finger pointed only for his world to be brought to a swirling halt, the next thing he knew he was on the ground gripping his jaw. Hades stood back up to his full height, massaging his knuckles.

"You saw that, it was self defense," He said to Zeus who nodded.

"That is was, he clearly had the intention of attacking," Zeus replied, cracking his own knuckles. "If I was still a boy I might be more inclined to showing you how we did things in South Brooklyn when someone messed with our family, but I'll refrain. We're all civilized here."

"I'm not," Hades said. "I'll beat your ass black and blue, who the fuck do you think you are?"

Poseidon launched himself at Hades the next moment with a loud growl and the two of them went struggling to the ground, exchanging blow after nearly bone shattering blow. There were grunts of effort from both men as they struggled back and forth.

"Dad!" Nico said. "Dad, stop!"

"Afraid your daddy's going to lose?" The younger teen looked over at Triton, who was smiling.

"No, I'm afraid he's going to kill him," Nico said hurriedly. "My Dad doesn't really know how to—" The next thing they knew there was a gurgling sound and Nico turned back to the new fight going on in front of them, Hades had one large hand wrapped squarely around Poseidon's throat, effectively choking him.

"I told you not to fuck with me," He said darkly, the deceptively small muscles in his arms bulging mightily. Nico did get his reserve of secret strength from somewhere.

"Dad!" Triton yelled and he ran in to help, though he wasn't sure exactly how to get Hades off with his iron like grip so instead he just stood there staring. Odie was crying now and Nico quickly got out of the bed to hold the boy close to him. He shushed him and turned his eyes away from the fight.

"What in the blazes is going on in here!" A passing nurse by the name of Beatrice Higgins stepped into the room, her hair was disheveled and her feet hurt and she really didn't have time for this, someone was coding down the hall. The woman had worked a triple shift, her frock had smears of blood on it and her eyes betrayed exactly how tired she was. She walked right into the room and in three long strides she was standing in front of both fiercely brawling men. She was old, nearly decrepit but that didn't stop what she did next. Reaching two gnarled hands out she grasped them both by the ear and yanked backwards, causing both men to fall over. "Sirs, this is a healing facility, I'm going to have to ask you both to leave this instant." She said between the two of them. "I swear, fightin' like schoolboys, you two should be ashamed of yourselves," Nico, Triton, Odysseus, and Zeus stared in awe, fascination, fear, and mild amusement respectively at the speculation. "Now get up 'fore I take off my shoe and beat you like the little boys you're pretending to be."

"Ma'am," Zeus said placatingly. "I'll escort them out if you'll be on your way." She turned on him.

"No sir! You're just standing there watching, there's a sick boy in that bed—" She pointed at Percy. "This is unacceptable. Now out, everyone, out!" So that's how Nico and the others ended up standing outside of Percy's room, watching the elderly woman close the door while she muttered to herself, then she was hurriedly shuffling away down the hall.

"I'll see you in court," Poseidon said, looking like a peacock whose feathers had been ruffled. Hades just smiled.

"Self defense," He replied, though he wouldn't admit how much his ear pained him now. That old broad had been strong. Poseidon didn't say another word, instead he nearly ripped Odie out of Nico's arms, though the small boy protested, and he was shoving his sons down the opposite end of the hall.

"I hate that," Nico said watching them go. "Odysseus is a good kid; he doesn't need to be there."

"Well, if we put Poseidon away I'm sure I could arrange something better for him," Zeus replied.

"Persephone's been talking about wanting a kid," Hades said. "Think we could work something out? I bet that would make that bastard's blood boil."

"Dad…" Nico looked at his father. "That's a big decision,"

"I said "work something out" boy not that I was going to adopt the little fucker right on the spot," Hades replied. "That got me all worked; now I need to go find someone else's ass to beat."

" _Dad_ …" Nico said and Hades popped his neck.

"Careful, boy, or it'll be you," He replied, his lip busted. "I bet that guy has a shiner in the morning."

"Perseus must be on some pretty strong drugs to have slept through that," Zeus agreed.

"I, uh, better get back in there," Nico said. "But Dad, that was awesome, you just cold cocked him."

"Bastard deserved it from what I hear," Hades shrugged. "I finally got to hit a Jackson,"

"He says not five seconds after talking about adopting one." Zeus replied.

"If I adopt the brat he'll be a di Angelo, not a Jackson goddamnit." Hades grinned.

"Whatever you say Dad," Nico laughed. "Don't go around willy-nilly picking kids up though, especially Odie, I like him and I want him to have a good home and I don't want you deciding on picking him and then—"

"What? Not loving him?" Hades asked. "Persephone'll love him enough for the both of us." Then he grinned and ruffled Nico's hair. "And don't think you're off the hook for disappearing, boy, you might still get some of this left over wrath." Nico knew his father was being playful about the adoption thing, but that got his mind turning. "Go on, Nicky, before the brat wakes up and you're not there."

"Percy started calling me that," Nico grinned.

"Tell him to fuck off and get his own nickname for you then," Hades shrugged; that seemed to be the end of that. "I need some coffee."

"I think I'll join you in that," Zeus said in agreement, and then the two men said their good-byes to Nico as if there hadn't just been a fight between his father and Percy's father right there in the middle of Percy's hospital room. Nico was in shock and he could only shake his head and grin from ear to ear at his father's antics. Hades was unreadable; there was no way to know what he would do next. "So you're an author, right? I think I've read your book."

"I'm glad someone has," He said with a grin. "I like you already, Zeus, go on and tell me what you thought." Nico pushed back into Percy's room then and climbed back into bed with his beloved, what was he going to do with his father? There was absolutely nothing that _could_ be done he decided and he settled into the blankets and pillows awaiting Percy's medicine induced sleep to wear off.


	33. Chapter 33

"I can't believe Nico's still sleeping," Juniper was leaning over the bed staring at the sleeping boy. "You would think he was the one who was hurt." She smiled. Percy continued petting the younger teen who was passed out beside him.

"He didn't sleep while you two were having your little lover's spat," Aaron said from the opposite end of the room, leaning against the wall beside the window. The blinds were pulled open letting in a large amount of sunlight. The small gathering of twilight aged teens were all watching Percy who was propped up in bed by three pillows thanks to a kind elderly nurse who had stopped by, she had looked around his room as if there might have been trouble. Which made Percy smile; he knew why she did it even if he hadn't been awake to witness it.

Juniper had already sat in with Rachel, Annabeth, and Thalia for a few hours, but she decided to stop in and see Percy, and to bring Grover over to Rachel's room so he could say hello. She rolled her eyes because Grover would have sat and talked to Percy all day about nothing while having not spoken a word to Rachel. _Boys_ , she thought to herself disdainfully.

"I'm not surprised," Grover grinned sitting at the foot of the bed beside Percy's cast engulfed leg, it was hoisted in the air. "They barely get any sleep when they're together,"

"That's for different reasons G-man," Percy smiled widely, he wanted to lean down and kiss the slumbering beauty underneath him, but his ribs hurt him to no end, it was probably time for another pain killer soon. His body throbbed but he wasn't going to show the pain outwardly, he didn't want to worry anyone. It had been hard enough convincing his mother to go take care of her cancelled Beijing business, and he had been shut down when he tried to send her own her way over to the country of China to renegotiate whatever dealings she had. She flat out refused and told him that she could reschedule the meeting after he was out of the hospital and mobile again.

"I still can't believe your father, Percy," Juniper said. "All because you're in a relationship with Nico?"

"Fucking stupid, right?" Percy returned, the small grin falling of his face. "I just want to beat his ass, but apparently Hades is one step ahead of me."

"That guy's badass," Jason smirked from his chair opposite of Grover, Leo in his lap. "Nico's Dad beat the shit out of him, Perce, there was blood all over the floor apparently."

"My Dad doesn't back off though," Percy was pensive now, his brow furrowed. "I just don't know what he'll do next." Then he winced as Grover patted his cast.

"Whatever it is we'll be here for you man," Grover said with a smile as he knocked on the plaster, he was just happy that his best friend was okay.

"Gee, thanks." Percy returned holding onto his leg, needles shot through it with every pound from the tall teen. "But with friends like you I hardly think my Dad'll have much work cut out for him." Grover just grinned.

"You love me."

"I'll kick you with my gimp leg." The bedded young man warned, but he broke out into a smile again. "Go see Rachel before she hobbles in here and beats your ass,"

"I wouldn't put it past her," Grover stood up and slapped hands with Percy. "I'll be back, you gonna be okay, Perce?" Percy ran his hands through Nico's long and coarse hair, he thumbed Nico's lips and the boy stirred ever so slightly.

"I think I'll be okay, G-man, you guys get something to eat or something, take a shower. You're offensive to all the senses right now, dude."

Grover laughed, "You're one to talk, you smell like ass-crack and ball sweat, my friend, but you probably like that." Juniper rolled her eyes again and cleared her throat.

"I hate to interrupt this deeply intriguing and eloquent conversation," She said. "But I think we really should let Percy get his rest." She touched his hand. "I want you feeling one hundred percent as soon as possible. I'll bring you some chicken soup tomorrow."

"Chicken soup? Isn't that for like colds—ow! What the hell man?" Percy cut his eyes at Grover.

"Chicken soup is fine, _right_ Percy? It'll make you feel better," This time Percy closed his eyes and chuckled, shaking his head.

"You're so whipped," He grinned. "Bring me anything you like, Juniper, I'll love it," The pretty brunette girl smiled and kissed the top of his head, then she turned a thoughtful eye onto Nico.

"You should probably pull these blankets a little higher around his shoulder, it's a bit drafty in here," Percy could see why his mother liked Juniper so much, well, hell he could also see why Grover was head over heels in love with her too, but that was another point entirely.

"Yes, ma'am," He smirked and did as he was bid. She grabbed Grover's hand and pulled him towards the door.

"I'll be back in like twenty minutes man," But a squeeze to his arm told him otherwise. "Or…make that an hour." He said and Percy made the animated sound of a whip being cracked causing his oldest friend to roll his eyes. "Prick."

"You love me," Percy laughed.

"In your dreams, gaywad." Then Grover stuck his tongue out like the learned and gentlemanly young man he was and Percy quaintly flipped him off, sending him on his way with good tidings. The hospitalized teen sat back on his bed and sighed heavily, he looked over at Jason and Leo who were embracing quietly, kissing and whispering to each other. He smiled, they made it look so easy. He and Nico had been so confused at first, they had been all skin and very little talking. Percy knew that he had been thinking with the wrong head when Nico had first kissed him, he knew it the second and third time too, it wasn't until after they consummated their advancing beyond friendship did it hit him just how much he meant to the boy sleeping not so soundly underneath him. He had had an idea, an inkling, but for the young Italian to have given himself over so wholly so quickly not just body, but mind and soul as well, it spoke volumes of how much his boyfriend was capable of feeling and how profound those feelings truly were.

By this time Jason and Leo seemed to have forgotten about the world around them, their muted public display of affection had turned into an all out groping fest. Percy smiled wider and very quietly cleared his throat. The Mexican teen jumped and turned wide-eyed and red eared to look at him, causing Percy to laugh again, but he couldn't laugh too hard for fear of hurting his sides more. Jason clutched at Leo, but after a few more unresponsive kisses he noticed that Percy was no longer talking to Grover and Juniper, in fact they had left.

"You guys enjoying yourselves?" Percy asked with a grin.

"Sorry," Leo apologized, but he looked daring as if he were more embarrassed than sorry. Percy liked Leo's brashness and his take-no-crap attitude, it was different than Nico's in a way that was hard to place. Both spoke their minds with such confidence that whatever they said seemed like it _had_ to be fact, but Nico said it in a way where you felt arguing was futile and that you were flat out wrong, but Leo made it seem like even if he was wrong he was sure as hell righter than you would ever be. Plus, he was hilarious when he wanted to be.

"Don't be, keep going and when the lunch tray comes around I'll have gotten dinner and a show," Percy laughed.

"Ignore the jealous one, Leo, he's upset because his sex life has been put on hold,"

Percy raised an eyebrow, "As if you knew what a sex life consisted of," He ventured and Jason's cheeks reddened. "I didn't think so."

"I do pretty good," Jason said, obviously trumped.

"You do better than that, babes," Leo settled back down in his lap. "It's not his fault Perce, I just…you know, I haven't felt very ready to take it to the next level."

"Hey, if you want my advice—" A hand covered his mouth then and there.

"Don't listen to anything he has to say," Nico yawned, blinking his big brown doe like eyes sleepily. "We'll end up in a four way,"

Even muffled Percy's voice was quite clear, "Is that such a bad idea?"

"Shut up Percy," Jason and Nico said simultaneously. "As if I would share this with anyone," The blond boy continued, suckling on Leo's neck.

"There better not be anything like that on that list of yours, Mr. Jackson," Nico continued, Percy wiped away a thin line of drool from the awoken boy's mouth and smiled.

"No, I know you wouldn't go for anything like that,"

"Then I've trained you well," Finally Nico sat up, only to be pulled into a weak hug. "Sit back, you're still not well,"

"Can I have a kiss at least? I've been trying to steal one all morning but I can't move very well," Nico obliged him but was very light about it, barely pecking his lips down. "You call that a kiss?" Percy asked when the brunet teen pulled back. "I was in a wreck, Nicky; give me something to make me feel alive,"

"You're just barely alive as is Mr. Punctured Lung and Broken Ribs," Nico said. "I shouldn't even been in bed with you, I'm afraid I'm going to break you."

"Usually it's the other way around," Percy grinned and Nico's cheeks flamed. "I won't complain if you do though. How about a real kiss? Show these kids what a real show looks like,"

"Maybe when you're a little better," Nico said, slowly crawling out of the bed. "I'm putting you on a strict policy, no strenuous activity, not till the doctor says it's okay." Nico pulled the bar of the hospital bed back up after he was standing, smiling at the now crestfallen look on Percy's face.

"But it's Winter Break," He said. "We always over exert ourselves on break,"

"Not this one,"

"What was that you were saying about having a sex life?" Jason quipped, and a warm laugh was shared throughout the small, intimate hospital room from everyone except Percy who gave Nico his most hurt puppy dog expression.

"Percy, no." Nico said sternly.

"Yes, sir…" Nico smiled and kissed Percy lightly on the lips again. "I missed you,"

"I missed you too," Nico said. "And I'm sorry;" He looked away. "I was acting like a crazy, jealous spaz. I should have known you wouldn't cheat on me and I let my insecurities get the best of me." Percy grinned from ear to ear, he rubbed Nico's cheek.

"Do you still love me?"

"Of course! I'll always love you Percy, more than anyone else." Nico said emphatically.

"Then nothing else matters, baby." Jason watched them for a while; he realized he had yet to apologize to Nico for what he had inadvertently done.

"Hey, uh, Nico. Can I talk to you outside for a minute?" He asked; Nico looked up at him with his usual unreadable expression. He still wasn't sure how he felt about Jason basically selling him and Percy up the river. But Percy grabbed Nico's arm and the boy turned his attention back to him.

"Everyone needs a second chance," Percy said to him. Quietly Nico nodded and Jason placed Leo on the chair saying they were occupying, "I'll be right back," then he ushered the young Italian boy out of the room. The only reason he could think of that Percy was so forgiving was that he had no idea that Jason had been the one who was supposed to seduce Nico, his hospitalized boyfriend was only aware that Jason and Thalia knew about the plan and he didn't want to exacerbate any of Percy's injuries by riling him up. Once they were outside Jason closed the door behind him and he turned big, blue apologetic eyes on Nico. "Look, I'm sorry,"

"That's a crap apology." Nico said, crossing his arms.

"Nico, I should have told you. I mean, I wanted to, I really did, but they would have thrown me in jail. I didn't know what I was getting into, dude." He sighed and ran a hand through his golden hair. "I—I'm so sorry man, I would have preferred to have gone to jail than to have ever seen that look on your face," Jason paused here, he looked like he was torn between an inner anger at himself and an outward sadness for having let Nico down; his face was screwed up and his eyebrows were furrowed. "You and Percy work way too well for anyone to ever want you guys to not be together. I hope Leo and I can find half the happiness you guys have." He put a hand on Nico's shoulder. "What can I do to tell you how sorry I am?" His eyes were pleading and he did truly look sorry but Nico wanted to impress upon him exactly what he had felt.

"Break-up with Leo." There was a beat where in both boys just stared at each other.

"Wait, what?" Jason sounded surprised, but at the same time he sounded disturbed. Nico could see that this conversation was now immensely bothering the blond boy even more so than before. "You don't mean that, do you?"

"I do." Nico said. "Let me take away the thing you care about the most, Jason. I won't forgive you—ever—until you break-up with him." The older teen opposite of him looked panicked. "Go in there and do it right now, make him cry Jason. Make him fucking bawl," Nico's dark gaze was penetrating and Jason's eyes darted back and forth, for a minute it seemed like the smaller teenager was towering over him, he drew back against the wall.

"Nico, that's crazy—I—that—" His eyes grew red.

"That!" Nico said, surprising the blond. "You feel your heart pounding? That clenching in your stomach like you're going to be sick?" Jason nodded, holding onto his abdomen with his hands. "If the very thought of you and Leo not being together is enough to make you feel like that, what would you do if someone was trying to break you up? Furthermore, what if I knew about it? Wouldn't you want me to tell you, no matter the consequences, man?"

"I'm sorry," Jason whispered, his eyes screwed shut. "I never meant to—"

"It's okay, really, it's okay." Nico touched his shoulder, he looked at the door. "You and me, we've got some pretty great guys in there. People might think that you and Percy have a lot in common, but I always figured we were closer than you and Perce. I would put up with his cheating if it ever really happened, I was about to break before he crashed. I couldn't take being apart from him, being mad at him. I would put up with a lot worse than being cheated on if I knew he still loved me, and I think you feel the same way about Leo."

"I've never felt like this about anyone before, Nico," Jason said quietly. "He's everything I ever wanted. I-I can't begin to describe how I feel when I look at him. I should have never done this to you, Nico. Never."

"It's in the past," Nico replied and absently he hugged Jason. "Percy's right, everyone deserves a second chance. It was kind of a douche move on my part to do that, but I'm still really mad for what happened."

"I think you're allowed to be mad," Jason wiped at his eyes.

"I don't think you understand exactly how upset the men in my family can get," Nico chuckled, more to himself than to Jason, he let go of the blond boy who chanced a smile that brunet young man returned.

"The picture's been painted in my head," Jason said, a whole world of understanding laid out for him, never would he cross Nico again. He opened the door to Percy's room to the sight of the once bed bound Percy limping across the floor on Leo's shoulder.

"Percy Jackson!" Nico shouted upon re-entry. "You get your ass back in that bed right now!"

"Oh, yeah, I've got a pretty good idea just how mad you guys can get," Jason said smiling to himself as Nico stormed back inside. Leo was just as surprised as Percy was when Nico stomped into the hospital room, he looked up with the biggest deer in the headlights expression Jason had ever seen on his face. The poor boy had no idea what he had just gotten himself into.

"But Nico—" Percy tried, Nico quickly grabbed the wheelchair in the corner set aside for just this purpose and slowly helped Percy into it, the injured young man wincing as he sat. Leo stepped back without a word, not that the Italian boy noticed him.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You're not supposed to be up and walking!"

"Not being able to move is going to kill me, Neeks!" Nico wasn't going to hear it; quickly he wheeled Percy back over to the bed and motioned for Jason to help him help the injured young man back into the hospital bed.

"What part of no strenuous activity didn't you understand?" Nico asked harshly as they got all of Percy's wires situated properly again, he had dragged most of his machines behind him. Jason stepped back as Nico continued to berate Percy's poor decision and he took Leo's hand. "Now, I'm going to get you some lunch because that damn tray hasn't gotten here yet, if he gets out of bed again call the nurse, or worse call me." Nico looked—nay, glared—over his shoulder at the two boys behind him.

"Yes, sir," They said simultaneously.

"Do you guys want anything?" Funnily he was still exclaiming as harshly as he had been unable to soften his words; but, he didn't seem to notice that his voice was still rather harsh. Jason and Leo both shook their heads 'no' and Nico pushed past them, opening the door. "Don't move," Percy was just smiling as Nico stormed out of the room and close the door behind him. The injured teen looked over at the couple standing there watching them and shrugged.

"He just said he wanted to get some sun, I didn't know—" Jason chuckled quietly and kissed Leo, quickly silencing him.

"I know you didn't, baby." He said pulling the boy close to him. "I know you didn't." Then he put an arm around the boy's waist. The words Nico had said to him in the hallway still resonated in his head, buzzing like thousands of tiny angry hornets. "I love you." He said without preamble, catching Leo off guard. The aforementioned boy's eyes grew wide and suddenly Jason thought perhaps he could have went about that with a bit more tact.

"What?" Leo whispered. Jason looked off to the side and caught Percy's eye, who nodded his head.

"I…said I love you," Leo's eyes roamed over his face as if looking for any hint of misnomer; Jason was given a hard, stern look. The Mexican boy set his mouth in a decided frown and crossed his arms. "That's not what I was expecting…" The blond teen replied to the strange scrutinizing look on his boyfriend's face.

"I swear to God Jason, if you're messing around I'll hurt you." Leo said. "Don't joke like that,"

Jason laughed disbelievingly, nervously. He noticed how Leo's voice shook. "I'm not kidding!"

"Then say it again,"

"I love you, Leo Valdez," He was surprised then when Leo threw his arms around him and squeezed him tightly. "You're supposed to say it back," Jason laughed but for a full twenty seconds Leo didn't move, his arms a vice around the taller teen. "Leo?" The boy looked up at him with tears in his eyes and quite a few running down his face. "What—why are you crying?"

"Because I love you too!" Leo nearly shouted, now shaking in Jason's arms.

Jason laughed again, his boyfriend wasn't prone to bouts of crying. Only on occasions or when certain emotions rose up in him, it was really difficult in fact to make Leo cry. He internalized his pain and externalized an unhealthy habit of making light of the situation. "Then why are you crying, Leo? This is the most awesome thing ever," Leo muttered something in Spanish to himself and held fast to Jason, who leaned down and kissed him. "Do you not feel like telling me right now?" Leo shook his head 'yes' and Jason kissed him again. "You can tell me when you want to, but just know that I _do_ love you, Leo."

Nodding again Leo said wiped at his face, "I love you too, Jason, with all my heart."

* * *

Nighttime fell and with Percy feeling better and Rachel making goo-goo eyes at his sister; Jason decided that he and Leo should probably get a proper night's rest for once. His boyfriend could hardly keep his eyes open as he was leaning against Jason's shoulder. "We're going to head home," He said with a small smile. "We'll swing by tomorrow, Perce, later guys,"

"Bye, Jase," Grover said, and Percy echoed it.

"See you tomorrow, Jason," Nico replied, fussing with Percy's pillow. Aaron had already gone home, he had to work tomorrow and sitting out for the few days he had would probably have adverse affects for him. Rachel had wheeled her way into Percy's room, her protests of "It's just a broken arm," fell on deaf ears. She, Thalia and Juniper gave their good-byes to Jason and the barely coherent Leo, who groggily stood and then fell heavily against Jason. The blond boy smiled to himself and hoisted Leo onto his back.

"Come on, babe," He said giving them all a wide grin. Grover got up and opened the door for him, Jason thanked him, slapped hands with Grover and then made his way down the hall. He and Leo soon found themselves in the car, Jason buckling Leo in, and then buckling his own seatbelt. He started the car and pulled out of the parking lot.

Leo slept the entire way to Jason's house; the young man was beyond tired as for the past two days he would get off of work and come to spend time with Percy and the others at the hospital, he hadn't really rested. Pulling into the driveway Jason turned the car off. "Babe," He grabbed Leo's hand. "Let's go inside,"

"Mm," Leo acknowledged, but he didn't move. Jason opened his door closed it behind him and went around to the other side of the car and pulled Leo out. He made his way to the front and soon they were both inside the warm comforts of home.

"Jason, you're back?" His mother, Hecate, was a woman with iron colored hair and small silvery-gray eyes. He looked her over, she was done up as if she were going out, which wasn't a surprise because his mother was prone to having dates.

"Yup," He said, adjusting Leo in his arms. Awkwardly they stared at one another for a few seconds. He and his mother had never sat down and spoken about Jason's relationship with the sleeping boy cozied up against him.

"You guys—uh, settling down for the night?"

"Yup." Jason answered again, then there was another awkward silence quickly following that; a car horn sounded loudly signaling that someone was outside. "You going out?"

"Yup," His Mom said with a very small smile, she walked past him. "The number for the pizza place is on the fridge if you get hungry, there's some money in the tin, I've got to go sweetheart," She finished clipping in her earrings and opened the door. "Don't wait up," She closed it behind her.

"See you around," Jason said to the closed door. He sighed, it wasn't like he and his mother had had the best relationship before either. After his Dad left they had just never been very close, it wasn't something he was bitter about but just a part of life.

Ascending the stairs he pushed his way into his room and laid Leo down on the bed, he pulled off the sleeping boy's shoes and set them off to the side. His fingers twitched at the button of Leo's pants, he could either undress him or he could let him sleep in his jeans, but the second option wasn't nearly very appealing. Still, he wondered how Leo would react to the situation. Jason left well enough alone and instead shimmied out of his own pants crawling into bed beside the tepidly warm boy.

"Jason?" The aforementioned poked his head up.

"Shh, go back to sleep Leels," The blond boy said warmly in Leo's ear. Leo turned over in Jason's arms and snuggled down deeper into the warmth of the blankets.

"When did we get back to your house?" He asked, yawning loudly.

"Not long ago," Jason kissed Leo's forehead. "Get some rest, babe," He prodded, the slighter teen laid his head on Jason's arm and yawned again.

"I love you," Leo whispered, Jason smiled to himself in the dark.

"I love you too," Jason returned easily.

"I'm so scared, Jase. I've been scared for a long time about us," He pushed his face into Jason's chest, muffling his words slightly. "No guy's ever stayed in my life, not my Dad, not my uncles, no one, I'm afraid if I get close to you you'll just end up leaving too, you don't know how really scared about that I am."

"Leo, I told you I wouldn't ever leave," Jason said warmly. "Is that what the crying this morning was all about?" Leo nodded and Jason laughed, then he checked himself and instead kissed the smaller boy full on the lips. "You're way too important for me to ever want to leave; you're a part of me,"

"But—"

"Shh," Jason laughed again, this time not putting it in check. "Just say you understand."

"I…" Leo paused. "I understand, thank you." There was a silence as he gripped Jason closer to him, it was a lulling quiet that made thoughts of sleeping grow even heavier. "Jason," Leo said.

"Hm?"

"I'm ready,"

"Ready?" Jason asked. "You're ready for what—oh— _oh_!" Realization dawned on him what Leo meant. "Are you sure?"

"Not tonight," Leo replied still slightly muffled by having his face buried in the blond's chest. "Can you just hold me tonight?" Jason said that he would and he could. "I am ready for you though, Jase. I want you so badly I can hardly stand it anymore."

"We have as long as you want," Leo kissed him and Jason felt something different in it, a taste of confidence.

"In the morning," He closed his eyes. "In the morning," He said again sleepily; then, not long after his breathing evened out, becoming slow and shallow. There was no way Jason was going to be able to sleep tonight. He understood Leo, understood that his boyfriend had suffered a lot of hurt in the tiny span of seventeen years. Leo had been hurt so many times, he made up for it by being bold and outspoken—overtly so, he joked and laughed and tried to supplement his pain for humor. Most people didn't see that, they didn't see that a lot of the time the smiling face was actually a very heavy mask, or that his joking nature hinted at something much darker. In fact, Jason wondered just how dark Leo's thoughts really were at times. He ran his fingers over one of the raised scars that was peeking out from underneath the sleeping boy's shirt sleeve. But, he did love Leo, he loved him so much.

He wanted to be a shining beacon of light the inside darkness of his boyfriend's mind; to fizzle out every last shadow of bleakness. Jason inhaled Leo's scent, a fragrant soap with an underlying hint of light sweat and the distinct smell of motor oil. He held Leo closely and closed his eyes; maybe he could sleep tonight after all. Not a fifteen seconds after that thought his eyes closed and he was drifting off to sleep himself, ready for the morning.

* * *

There was a knock at the door, which surprised Sally as she wasn't expecting extra company. She was already entertaining Hades and Persephone _and_ Zeus and Hera, if this was Alex or Gilliam she might have pulled her hair out, not because she was a bad hostess but because under such short notice she didn't have much in ways of entertaining her guests. That and Gilliam and Alexander were both hounding her about Percy's missed shoot, of course she hadn't gotten around to telling either of them that Percy had been in a wreck. She opened the door, not surprised to see it was snowing still but, what did surprise her was her newest guest. She made the mistake of thinking that he was going to be of adult height, instead she found herself looking down at what her son used to look like before puberty and his growth spurts.

"Odie?" She asked. "Sweetie, where's your coat?" That was the first thing that came out of her mouth, forever a mother, but then she actually looked at him. "What happened to you?" She gasped, the small boy had a black eye. He didn't say anything, he just stood at the door holding back tears. "Get in here," She said softly touching his shoulder and pulling him inside. "Sweetheart you're frozen to the bone," Closing the door behind him she saw tracts of tears falling out of his unbruised eye and out of the other swollen one as well. She went to her knees to stare him in the face, scrutinizing him. There were all sorts of small bruises and cuts marring his flesh, most were nearly healed up but there were a few that looked particularly nasty. His nose was red and dripping a gelatinous yellow snot and he coughed into his hand, a deep, lung shaking cough. "Who did this to you?"

Still he didn't answer, he just stood there shivering and not exactly crying. "Sally, who's at the door?" Paul asked coming into the foyer. "My God, what's this?" He asked observing the small, dirtied, and sickly looking child. "Odysseus?"

"He won't talk to me," Sally said. "Are you at least hungry, sweetheart?" As if in answer the boy's stomach growled voraciously. Sally smiled to herself happy to have gotten some sort of response. "Your brother always did have an appetite; I figure you must as well." Standing she grabbed him by the hand and pulled him to the kitchen, surprised that he cooperated that much with her. She pulled him into the kitchen with Paul behind her, not stopping to say a word to their guests who looked up from the wine and cheese that they had all been enjoying with concerned stares. "Sit," She said once she had pulled him into the kitchen and he sat at the table. "I made some grilled chicken cutlets and brown rice with broccoli earlier today, oh but you probably don't like vegetables do you? Boys rarely do," She said trying to make him smile at least.

"Broccoli is okay," He said in a small voice, his good eye staring down at the table. "I'm sorry for showing up so late like this."

"Sweetie," She said sitting down at the table; Paul was up preparing him a plate of leftovers. "You have to tell me what's happened or I'll have to call your father," The last part was ground out between her teeth.

"No!" Odie shouted. "Not Daddy," Sally leaned forward.

"Did he do this to you?" The little boy squeezed his eyes shut but winced when he did because his purple and black swollen eye must have pained him. Again he didn't answer but his shoulders began to shake as he started crying. "Odysseus…" Sally grabbed both of his hands in one of hers and his chin in the other. "Why did he do this to you?"

"I was bad," Was the quiet answer, for a minute there was silence in the kitchen. A bleak lack of sound that was only filled by the microwave's whirring as it heated the boy's food. Odysseus was surprised when Sally started shaking, he was even more surprised when he looked up and saw her eyes were full of tears. "Mrs. Blofis?"

"That bastard," Her voice was a low growl, a menacing, feral but almost inaudible roar. Her husband grasped her shoulders but that didn't stop her from shaking just as much as Odysseus. "What do you mean you were bad?"

"I—" He stopped. He had said too much, he shouldn't have even been here; he was already in enough trouble.

"Odysseus, you tell me right now." He had never heard someone so commanding, she still had his hands in her own. Sally believed in corporeal punishment, as a child she had taken a belt to Percy when he needed it. Discipline sometimes warranted such, if a child misbehaved there were several levels at which they should have been punished accordingly, the last of which was being that he or she was physically struck though. Furthermore, in Sally's opinion, a beating to a child was never more strikes than three. It was hard enough imagining actually hitting your child, but Poseidon had taken it to a sickening level and she was growing more and more disgusted with him every time he was mentioned in conversation. Before he had been a nuisance, not a regret, no without him there would be no Percy, but now he was a completely different man than the one she knew.

"We were fighting," Odie said suddenly, barely above a whisper. "I shouldn't have been arguing, it's my place to be seen not heard," He grew quiet again for a moment and the microwave beeped once, then again, and finally for the last time to indicate that it was done. "We were talking about Percy; I told Daddy that I thought he was being mean to him," He paused again. "I can't remember what happened after that, but when I woke up I was on the couch." Then he was crying again. "I ran away, and now I'm going to be in even more trouble when he finds out I'm here,"

Sally checked her anger then and she touched Paul's hand on her shoulder, "Get his food," She said sternly. Paul patted her shoulder and went over to the microwave. She went over to Odysseus and hugged him to her. "Shh," She shushed. "You're going to be okay here, baby, alright?" He hugged her back and her heart broke. "You're staying here tonight," She said and Paul sat the food down in front of him with a fork. Odysseus looked up at her, then down at the food. "Eat," She said softly and that was all it took, he ate the food with abandon as if he hadn't properly had a meal for a while.

"Sally?" Sally looked over to the doorway to see Hera and Persephone standing there. She went over to them and quickly explained what was going on. "Ghastly," Hera said, putting an appalled and manicured hand against her chest in disbelief.

"The poor boy," Persephone agreed looking over Sally's shoulder at the dining child.

"I'm going to go start him a bath and find some of Percy's old clothes," The fashionista said, still deeply disturbed. She had never known her ex-husband to be so conniving and evil and now she was feeling sickly because of everything that had happened. She _was_ going to get in touch with Poseidon, and he had better hope she did not see him any time soon.


	34. Chapter 34

Leo woke up feeling anxious, he woke up feeling anxious and timid and altogether skittish. He still couldn't properly recall how they had made it back to Jason's house, but he remembered the promise he made. The very real promise he had made. He _was_ ready, but he was always worried about things he could screw up. What if while they were having sex the house caught on fire and they were torn between finishing or getting out? What if Thalia—or Heaven forbid Hecate—walked in on them doing it, how does one explain something like that? How could he ever live with Jason seeing him naked and then associating that image with his mother? What if he was just _bad_ in bed? That was a very real problem as well, he had heard the term "a bad lay" before, and he didn't know what it meant but it couldn't be anything good. Sex was supposed to be pleasurable; if people could be bad at sex then he was probably one of those people.

Oh God, Jason was going to be staring at him _naked_. The sleeping blond boy told him he didn't care about all of Leo's scars but Leo wasn't so sure, they weren't sexy little scars like the one above Jason's lip—which was quite small, and near the same shade as the rest of Jason's skin; Leo's scars were big, discolored abnormalities. Some of them wrapped all the way around from his front to his back. Suddenly he felt even more scared, what if Jason decided he was a freak halfway through them getting undressed? Leo felt like he and Frankenstein's monster were twins separated at birth, all he was missing were the bolts in his neck.

Officially he and Jason had kissed two hundred and thirty-eight times, not counting kisses on the cheek. He wondered if he had gotten any better at kissing? He wondered if oral sex counted as a kiss? Not that they had gotten that far either, it was just a very valid question. Suddenly he wondered if he was _supposed_ to give Jason oral before they actually did it? Which led to him wondering exactly what they were supposed to do before they did anything at all? Did they have all the ingredients for sex? Penises? Well, yeah, they had those—he knew for a fact they had those, and he knew where the penises were supposed to go when it was sex between men, but what about the other stuff? Was there other stuff? How much other stuff was there? He looked at Jason, who was sleeping soundly, and panic fluttered in his chest.

What if he was so bad at sex Jason left him? That thought made his mind silent, a feat in and of itself. He had to call someone, it would be weird if Jason woke up and Leo was searching Google for gay sex tips, wouldn't it? There might have been a misunderstanding, he wasn't sure what the misunderstanding might have been but there was always the possibility of one. Quickly he grabbed his phone out of his pants and rushed out of bed. It was still early, he noticed, it was nine o'clock in the morning. He stared at the phone in his hand, truthfully he only knew five other gay people besides himself and Jason, and only three of them were other guys who had had sex with other guys—Percy was gay, or bi, or something, he wasn't sure. Then there was Nico who he figured only liked men, and Aaron who he _knew_ only liked men, though he had spoken to him all of twice. Then, along that train of thought he wondered what to classify Rachel and Thalia as? People put too much importance on labels, it occurred to him. No matter what they were, whether they were attracted to men or women or women and men they were still very human. Labels seemed to be the thing humans attached when they did not understand something, you had to classify it no matter what.

He hoped he was never like that.

Leo shook his head, he didn't have the time to sit around contemplating, Jason was the type of person who woke up if he got cold and without Leo laying beside him that big lug was sure to freeze. Jason knew how to steal all of his warmth when they were lying down together. Again he shook his head, no time. He rushed out of Jason's room silently, closing the door behind him, and he sat on the top stair dialing a number quickly. " _Hello_?" Nico answered rather cheerily.

Leo thought he said, "Hi, Nico, I have a few questions I really need to ask you 'cause when Jason wakes up we're supposed to take our relationship to the next level; and, I'm not sure how to go about that?" But what he actually said sounded like a mix between garbled Klingon and jumbled Elvish, his mouth was dry and he was lightheaded.

" _Leo_?" Nico asked. Leo nodded, but he realized Nico couldn't see him. He cleared his throat and tried to do the same with his mind. He was really freaking out. "What's going on, buddy?"

"Nico, help!" He managed to say, in hindsight that sounded a little dramatic. "Jason—me—sex—I—I don't know how." He ground out from between his teeth; the thing is that when Leo was out of his element he was very quick to shut down completely. Much to his chagrin Nico's reply was laughter. "Nico, I need help!" He said coherently enough to show that he really was in need of some advice.

" _Hold on_ ," Nico replied, his voice was full of mirth. The line clicked and Leo knew that Nico had switched over to another call; the panic in his chest flamed higher. His palms began sweating and he was in desperate need for a glass of water. " _Leo_?" Leo gave a grunt that he was still on the line; there was a distinct ringing on the phone, as if Nico had dialed another number.

"Nico what—" He tried.

" _Hello, salut, and guten tag_?" That voice was new, but he recognized it even if he had never spoken to him over the phone.

" _Aaron_?" Nico asked. " _Hey_ , _we've got a situation_ ,"

" _Dish_ ," Aaron said. " _Is it about Percy_ , _is he okay_?"

" _Percy_ ' _s fine_ _or_ , _at least, he_ ' _s on the road to recovery_ ," Nico proclaimed, a bit of pride in his voice. " _You remember Leo and Jason_? _The tall blond guy and his boyfriend_?" Leo's heart stuttered, it always did when he was referred to as Jason's boyfriend, butterflies took flight in his stomach and a general smile tugged at his lips in such situations.

" _How could I forget_?" Aaron replied appreciatively, his voice almost purring. " _What_? _Is one of them available_? _Don_ ' _t keep me in suspense_ ,"

"No! I'm just on the line!" Leo squeaked, and then he cleared his throat. "I, uh, I mean I'm here," He said in a decidedly manlier voice, it sat two entire octaves lower than his squeak.

" _Oh_ , _what_ ' _s going on_ , _sweetie_?" He felt palpitations again, his heart fluttering so quickly he was sure it would float away. " _Leo_ , _are you there_?"

" _He_ ' _s just shy_ ," Nico said. " _He and Jason are going to_ , _uh_ — _consummate their relationship and it_ ' _s their first time_ , _you know_ , _at all, he just needed a few pointers_."

" _Oh_ ," It was such a profound little 'oh', did it mean, "Oh, well that's a dumb thing to be worried about," Or did it mean, "Oh, you really should know that it's just insert cylindrical object 'a' into slot 'b,' it's not like this is an IKEA product or anything, dumbass," Leo wasn't sure. " _Nico_ , _I thought you of all people would know how to give advice to a first timer_ ,"

" _You give such good advice_ ," Nico replied. " _Percy still won_ ' _t tell me what you told him_ , _but I thank you just about every day for saying it_."

" _We do what we can to please_ ," Aaron said, his voice was smug. " _Leo_ , _sweetheart_ , _are you still there_?" Leo nodded again, but he reprimanded himself because he knew that neither of them could see him.

"I'm here," He said quietly.

" _Okay_ , _are you going to be on bottom or on top_?" Leo nearly dropped the phone, this guy was very direct.

"On bottom or top of what!" Leo exclaimed, trying to keep his voice down.

" _Oh my God_ , _you_ ' _re adorable_ ," Aaron laughed from the other side of the phone. Leo didn't feel very adorable right now, in fact, he had no idea what this guy was talking about. " _Pitchers and catchers_ , _Leo_ ," Aaron further explained. " _Givers and receivers_ , _who_ ' _s sticking it in the butt and who_ ' _s getting stuck_?" Leo felt his ears burn and opted to stay silent. " _Okay_ , _I_ ' _m just going to go ahead and take a shot in the dark and say you'll be the bottom_. _I could be wrong_ , _it_ ' _s very seldom that I am_ , _but it_ ' _s been known to happen every blue moon or so_."

"O-okay," Leo said quietly, he heard Nico snickering in the background.

" _Well_ , _the first thing I_ ' _m going to tell you is that it_ ' _s going to hurt_ — _a lot_. _That is_ , _if you don_ ' _t prepare properly_ ," Aaron enlightened him. " _By prepare I mean stretching of the anal wall_ , _what you'll want to do is take a non oil based lubricant_ , _that_ ' _s what I prefer anyway_ , _and slather it heavily on the fingers_ , e _ither you or your Jason can do this part_ , _and then very slowly insert your finger of choice into the anus_." Oh God, what was Leo hearing? " _Of course_ , _unless he_ ' _s really small I wouldn_ ' _t start with the pinky;_ _whatever, I'm not a size queen_." He paused when he heard the line was still silent. " _How you holding up so far, Leo_?"

"I-I—" Leo stuttered. "This is all—I—"

" _Good_ , _you_ ' _re still conscious at least_. _I_ ' _m afraid you_ ' _re going to pass out on me_ , _you just tell me if this gets to be too much and I'll try to Disney it up for you_ ," Leo heard that smugness in his voice again, or perhaps he was just ribbing with him, trying to ease his nerves.

"I'm sorry," He said. "Keep going."

" _Mm_ , _well one thing first_ , _you might want to shower before you guys actually get down to it_ , _before Jason even touches you actually. Get yourself really clean_ , _you know_ , _up in there_ ," Did he still have the option to pass out? " _You can do a little shower play if you want to_ , _stretch yourself before Jason has to_ ,"

" _Aaron_ ," Nico said, over his small laughing fit. " _That might be a bit much for him_ , _keep it PG_ - _13 at least_."

" _Okay_ , _okay_ ," Aaron chuckled. " _But you probably should at least attempt it_ , _there are a lot of things that can be done wrong_." Leo knew it! He knew it, and he knew he was probably going to screw everything up! " _But_ , _if you just take it slow everything should be fine_ , _and gradually as you two do it more things should get a lot easier_. _Do you have condoms_?"

"Condoms—well, no—"

" _Get some_ ," He told him. " _I know it_ ' _s your first time_ , _and you two haven_ ' _t ever done it with anyone else before and you_ ' _re both clean or whatever_ , _but get some condoms. Get in the habit of using them_ , _every time_. _Condoms are a great way to prevent_ , _not only disease_ , _but_ … _let_ ' _s just say when he finishes you don_ ' _t want it inside. Or_ , _maybe you do_ , _I don't know_ , _everyone_ ' _s different. Still_ , _condoms_ , _use them_."

"Okay," Leo made a mental list.

" _Lubrication too_ , _hell_ , _get twenty bottles if you have to_ , _just make sure to stay well lubricated_." This was getting to be taxing, he knew there were steps that had to be taken but he didn't know there were so many. " _Now_ , _back to the fingering_ ," Nico laughed again.

"Shut up," Leo said, embarrassed.

" _You want to get everything stretched out with to at least the width of two fingers_ ; _if he_ ' _s huge and you don_ ' _t feel up to the task use three_." Aaron sounded like he was thinking. " _I can_ ' _t stress enough that you should be as slow as possible_ , _but there's going to be blood_ , _hopefully if you wash up properly that's all there's going to be_ , _it shouldn_ ' _t be a huge amount if you only slow things down_."

"Be slow," Leo said. "Got it,"

" _Other than that it_ ' _s pretty self explanatory_ , _just have fun exploring each other_ ' _s bodies and finding your limitations_. _I wish you the best of luck_ , _now I really have to get back to work_ , _Gilliam is letting me photograph today_."

" _Oh_ , _Good luck_ ," Nico said.

"Aaron!" Leo called, he had one more question—not that he had really asked any to begin with.

" _Hm_?" Was the response.

"Is, I mean—like—is there anything I should do to make it, you know, really great?" Leo asked.

" _Call his name a lot_ , _spank his ass_ , _suck his nipple_ , _bite his neck_ , _play with his balls_. _Just off the top of my head_ ," Aaron laughed. " _You just have to be really in tune with him_ , _good sex is had by people who are just looking for sex_ , _great sex is had by people who are looking to spend time together_ , _so do whatever feels right_."

" _Is that what you told Percy_?" Nico asked.

" _Well_ , _Percy_ ' _s a top_ , _Nico my dear_ ," Aaron said, a smile in his voice. " _He doesn_ ' _t really have much of a job besides being there_. _It is so difficult being on bottom_ ," He sighed. " _Very rewarding_ , _however_ ,"

" _Get back to work_ ," Nico laughed. " _You_ ' _re going to stop by here when you get off_ , _won_ ' _t you_?"

" _Raging bulls couldn_ ' _t stop me_ ," Aaron replied. " _Leo_ , _sweetie_ , _best of luck to you_ , _I hope I_ ' _ve been somewhat informative and enlightening_. _If anything you could always watch Percy and Nico for visual tips_ , _the literal and physical kind_ ," Leo very seriously almost dropped the phone again.

"No…no thank you," He said.

" _A_ - _door_ - _able_ ," Aaron laughed. " _Bye guys_ ,"

" _Bye_ ," Nico said and Leo echoed him very quietly. " _That was a little more intense than I expected_ , _but you never know what Aaron is going to say_ ," Nico laughed. " _I hope you_ ' _re not too mad at me for calling him_? _He knows a lot more about this stuff than I do_ ," Leo informed Nico that he wasn't upset, just sort of dumbfounded. " _Yeah_ , _he does that_ ," Nico laughed again. " _I won_ ' _t hold you any longer, buddy_. _Have fun_ , _don't worry so much—Jason loves you very much_."

"Thank you," Leo said, his head was still swimming but he felt the slightest bit better now.

" _No problem_ , _Leo_ , _I'll see you later_ ,"

"Good-bye," The line went dead and for a moment Leo wondered what Aaron had meant by a lot of things could go wrong.

"Who're you talking to?" A sleepy voice asked from the door, Leo looked up to see Jason emerge from his room rubbing his eyes. Leo had never known a Greek or Roman god personally, in fact, he had hated Mythology with a passion, but if ever there was any comparison to one it might have been Jason who stood there in nothing but his boxer shorts. His bronze skin was goose-pimpled and smooth looking, his glacier blue eyes, while filled with sleep, were beautiful, and his body was lean to the point of ridiculousness.

"Nico and Aaron," Leo said, he hadn't realized that he was still holding the phone up to his ear. "But they're not there anymore."

"Oh," Jason said and plopped down beside him, putting an arm around his waist. "Percy okay?"

"He's fine, we should go visit later today," Leo told him as his cheek was kissed chastely, he leaned into it. For a moment he let himself be held, he let Jason's warmth steel his resolve, then in a split decision he said, "Jason I think you need to go to the store," The blond boy blinked more sleep out of his eyes and yawned widely.

"Whyzzat?" He asked mid-yawn.

"You have to get condoms and lubrication and I have to take a shower," Jason coughed the rest of his yawn out as he tried to laugh at the same time it was ending. He looked over at Leo, whose entire face was almost red, a feat because of his dark caramel colored skin.

"Any particular reason I need those things?" Jason asked, grabbing his hand and lacing their fingers together.

"You know damn well why you need them, _pendejo_ , don't make me say it out loud." Leo nearly growled, he was embarrassed enough for three people since Aaron and Leo seemed to not have any semblance of shame.

"Just checking," Jason grinned. "I'll go right now." He stood up and began walking down the stairs.

"Jason," Leo called after him as his boyfriend all but skipped to the door. The blond teen looked back up the stairs with both excitement and wonder in his eyes. "You're not wearing anything, babes." Jason looked down and his cheeks tinged red. Like a bolt of lightning he bound back up the steps, two at a time, and ducked into his room. Leo found himself laughing at Jason, who emerged not fifteen seconds later in the rumpled clothes he had worn on the night previous with two very untied shoes on his sockless feet.

"Be right back!" He said jumping most of the stairs, then he stopped at the door. "If you change your mind before I get back just call me so I don't make a fool of myself when I get in, I don't want to force anything on you."

"Will do," Leo said with a smirk, he stood. "Go, go." As if Jason needed to be told twice, he stepped out onto the icy landing and nearly busted his ass from how quickly he was going. Leo laughed again as the door was shut behind his boyfriend, but as soon as the door was closed anxiety began to rear its ugly head again. What if—Leo forced himself to stop thinking and to stand up. He went to the hall closet and grabbed a towel then made his way towards the bathroom, determined. He and Jason were ready for this, he told himself, they were ready for the next step in their relationship.

Once inside the bathroom he turned the water on hot, adjusting the temperature so he wouldn't burn himself, and stepped out of his clothing, quickly getting in the shower. He thoroughly washed himself from head to toe and tried his best to follow Aaron's advice to the tee about cleansing _everywhere_. It felt strange trying to clean where he had been instructed. When he deemed himself dirt free he turned the water off and tentatively stepped out of the shower. He toweled off and looked in the mirror, which presented him with a whole new problem all together. He fished his phone out of his pants. "Nico!"

" _Leo_? _What_ ' _s going on, shouldn_ ' _t you and Jason be breaking a bed_?" As much as he wanted to blush he didn't have the time, there was a gas station just down the street from Jason's house and he knowing the blond his boyfriend would be back very soon.

"I sent him for condoms and that other stuff," Leo said. "I just got out of the shower," He was staring in the mirror. "What should I wear? Are jeans sexy? Should I just stay naked? Oh, God, no I can't be naked." He scrutinized himself in the mirror.

Nico laughed, " _Leo, you could be wearing a Halloween costume and I'm sure Jason wouldn't care_. _But, if you want to do something special_ _put on one of Jason's tee-shirts, nothing else, they find that sexy_. _Better yet, wear one of his sport's jerseys_ , _that'll drive him crazy_."

"Yeah, okay!" Leo ran through the hall in his towel, leaving little wet footprints behind him that trailed his way from one place to the next. He burst through Jason's door like a hurricane, slamming it closed behind him, he opened Jason's closet. "Baseball, football, lacrosse, soccer—"

" _Just pick one_! _"_ Chuckled Nico. " _It doesn_ ' _t matter_!"

"Yeah, alright," Leo grabbed the football one and quickly slung it over his shoulders, throwing water from the ringlets of his hair everywhere. The front door opened and closed. "He's here!"

" _Leo_ , _buddy_ , _do me a favor_? _Focus on Jason_ , _he'll guide you through everything_ , _you two will find out what you like and what you don_ ' _t like. I want to help you, I really do, but right now I_ ' _m trying to give Percy a bath without getting pulled into the tub myself so I'll have to talk to you later_ ,"

" _Hi_ , _Leo_!" Percy's voice came through from the other side. " _Have good sex_!"

" _Bye_ , _Leo_ ," Nico laughed. " _Call me afterwards_ ,"

"Leo! Are you still in the shower?" Jason's voice echoed through the house.

" _I will_! _Thanks again_ , _bye Nico_ , _bye Percy_!" He closed the phone and threw it over his shoulder just as the door to Jason's door room, it landed on the bed silently. "Hey," He smiled as Jason closed the door behind him.

"What's this?" The blond boy asked walking forward, he put his arms around Leo and in his haste the younger teen had forgotten just how much he disliked exposing so much skin. He felt self conscious suddenly and though Jason's jersey was like a dress on him he held down the ends of it around his knees.

"I thought you would like it," Leo said, his ears burning.

"I do," Jason said enthusiastically. "I really, _really_ do, but, uh, are you comfortable with all this?" He put his arms around Leo's waist, trying and failing not to grope at the round buttocks laying just underneath his hands.

"It's for you," Leo said, the blush flushing his cheeks a dark umber. "If you like it then I'm comfortable," That was a big step for Leo, Jason knew. His scars were less numerous along his legs, it was clear that his torso had taken the brunt of the cuts he endured, but it was still such a feat for him to have come this far for Jason, Leo didn't handle stress well, Leo didn't handle anything that wasn't happiness well actually. In fact, Jason wondered exactly how uncomfortable Leo really was. The thought was pushed from his mind when Leo's timid lips captured his, he deepened the kiss wrapping his arms completely around Leo's waist, the boy was so skinny that Jason could touch his own biceps. Leo pulled back, "Was that okay?"

"The best," Jason grinned, the boy in his arms muttered something about two hundred and thirty-nine but before Jason could ask what he meant Leo pulled him over to the bed. "Leo, are you sure this is okay? Your kind of trembling," It was true, if Jason hadn't been squeezing him so hard Leo might have been having nervous convulsions.

"Nah, man," Leo smiled brilliantly. "I really just can't wait," Jason wasn't sure if that was a proper smile or one of the one's Leo used when he was being courageous. Leo really wanted to do this, he could not think of a reason not to—well, he could think of several reasons not to—but none of them seemed to have any real substance outside of his own sense of self-deprecation and his anxious, near jittery nature. He pulled Jason down on to the bed and he saw firsthand how much he was shaking. "Tell me you love me," He whispered in Jason's ears, putting his arms around the boy's neck as they kissed again. "I need to hear it,"

Jason laid Leo back, staring down at his face with much admiration. The Latino boy's hair was sopping wet, clinging to his face like thousands of tiny little curled ebon fingers, his devious smile was so pure that it was almost a new smile completely, and his pointed ears were burgundy. Jason felt his heartbeat quicken. "I love you, Leo," He kissed him. "I love you more than the sun, I love you more than the moon, more than the earth and the air in my lungs," Kiss. "I love you from the depths of my eternal soul, from the very bottom of my heart. I love you like a fat kid loves cake," He smiled when Leo laughed. "I love you more than a fat kid loves cake," He corrected himself. "I want to be the only person you ever have to turn to any time you need anything, Leo, I want to be your provider and your protector. I want to be yours, I want you to have me and only me and for us to never fall apart. I want us to be forever, because I love you with everything I am and anything I can ever be." They kissed long and hard, Leo's heady lips were like a taste of the finest wine, the sweetest ambrosia and the most succulent and decadent candies. Jason crawled on top of him completely, hiding that small body away under his, and he felt the most primal of protective instincts. This was his, his heart and his soul, this was his to keep safe from the world. This was the very fiber of his being right underneath him, he pressed his lips down harder and Leo's arms went slack around his neck. He pulled back, sitting up and settling on his haunches.

He stared down at Leo in his number forty-two footballer's jersey, the same jersey that had been covered in his blood, sweat and tears before and now it too was holding his most precious thing. "Jason…" Leo breathed, his eyes were half lidded; there was a sizeable tent at his crotch where the jersey was still covering him. The blond teen took a hold of it, lifting the football shirt over Leo's head and hooking it behind his neck so that the he was still technically wearing it, then he grasped Leo's considerable rock hardness in his strong hands. Leo's moan was inaudible, caught in his throat like a gasp mixed with a mewl. "Jason!" He bit his lips as Jason began tugging at his length, pulling it up, then stroking it down, and repeating the process over and over again. His other hand ran traces down the hundreds of scars on Leo's body, the raised flesh was sensitive to his spider like touch apparently because Leo sucked in a breath of air so violently he shook, his fingers grasping the bed sheets like a madman.

Jason loved Leo's complexion in comparison to his own, Leo's skin was the color of cocoa beans, lovely and brown, and as rough and brazen as it might have looked it was so soft to the touch. Leaning his head down he caught Leo's skin colored nipple in his mouth and gingerly suckled on it, all the while not letting up on his mutual masturbatory method. Leo was floating, that's the only proper word that could describe where he was. For once his mind that was always so full of naysaying and second guessing was only filled by one clear and ringing thought: _Jason_! It was like he had lost the ability to form coherent sentences, he tried to speak to say how good he felt, but instead he found himself calling out Jason's name over and over again, which seemed to be just as good. Jason relinquished him all at once and for a moment it was as if a part of him had died away. He immediately missed the touch, missed those calloused fingers doing such sinful things to him. He clawed out pulling Jason on top of him again.

"I gotta get out of these clothes, Leels," Jason whispered in his ear, kissing his neck. Leo let him go. He wasn't sure if his vision was still working as he searched Jason's ceiling, everything was so white and warm, he was floating on a cloud. Cloud Nine, he realized surreally. Then Jason's face was staring down at him again and he felt as if he were staring into the eyes of God.

" _Please_ ," He rasped out, need bringing tears to his eyes. Jason just nodded and kissed each and every last salty droplet that fell down Leo's cheeks. The younger teen heard something rustling and he realized it was the plastic bag Jason had brought with him. "You have to—" Jason kissed him again, quickly silencing him.

"Oh, I know what to do, I consulted a doctor a few weeks ago," He grinned. Leo sat back, his vision unfocused again as he heard the lid to something click and then another something, this one rather wet and cold, poked him in the rudest of ways. "Take a deep breath," He sucked in air as if it were being charged by the breath and he felt the invasion like an out of body experience. It didn't hurt, it felt odd and wet, like when someone was pushing their finger into your stomach, only he could feel it on the inside.

Jason wriggled his finger around and Leo clenched his calf muscles, focusing on the fact that is was Jason's finger and not the strange sensation that was sending through him. Jason's finger's were large, Leo remembered from his position on his back with his legs held apart widely, his hands were huge and he had long, slim fingers. Fingers that were capable of making just about any pianist who lived quite jealous, and he had always been so very adept with his hands. Leo bet that Jason would have made a fine mechanic.

In and out that pointer finger worked till it was met by hardly any resistance. Jason poured more lubricant down on Leo's opening and positioned his middle finger. "I'm going to put two in," He told Leo, who was still gripping the bed sheets for dear life. "Tell me if it hurts," It hurt. The ring of muscles with which Jason was so diligently working spasmed as soon as they were stretched beyond their limits and Leo threw his head back, his eyes squeezing shut; Jason felt the change in demeanor and slowed his pace, edging the new finger in with the speed of molasses. When it was completely inside he looked up at Leo's face to judge how the boy was fairing, Leo's eyes were still screwed shut, his legs were locked on the floor and his lip was worried between his teeth but he didn't say a word. Jason kissed the boy's thigh and then slowly began to scissor his fingers. "How does that feel?" He asked sounding more like a physician than a lover, he said it as if it were something he had been instructed to say while in the middle of this very procedure.

Jason was worried he was hurting Leo too much.

"Weird," Came the very hoarse whisper. "Please keep going," For seven long minutes Jason twisted and scissored and thrust his fingers in and out of Leo, more and more he felt Leo trying to relax and more and more his fingers were met with less resistance. Finally he was down to his knuckles, he twisted and prodded Leo's insides feeling their warm moistness, it was an inviting sort of warmth that made him grow more uncomfortable in his barely containing boxers. Leo's eyes halfway opened, and a look of relief flooded over his face after another few minutes of fingering. Jason wondered if he should have added a third finger, just in case, he wasn't divinely endowed but he was far from being called small. He was as long as he was thick and he had quite a bit of girth, his shaft was veiny and pulsating and defied the constraints of his waistband, trying desperately to find freedom from its cloth prison.

He was given his answer when Leo began to stroke his own shaft, moaning out, the younger teen couldn't wait any longer with Jason filling him the way he was. Jason pulled his fingers out and received the most pitiful stare from his boyfriend that he had seen so far; Leo suddenly looked as if he had lost all that was near and dear to him the moment Jason wasn't touching him and again his hands shot out, pulling on Jason's shoulders as the blond young man was stepping out of his boxers.

He wanted to see Leo's face as he entered him so he left the boy on his back, Leo's ankles found their way behind Jason's ears as their middles were lined up. "Ready?" Jason asked and when he received one curt nod he pushed forward into Leo's awaiting warmth. If there was a Heaven, Leo thought, it could not compare to the pleasure he found upon being entered, there was such profoundness to the fact that he and Jason were now tangibly one person. Upon being entered he was no longer Leo and Jason was no longer Jason, instead they ascended to the heights of euphoria past Heaven, past the stars, past the very reality of any known universe and they delved into a new state of being altogether. There was pain, yes, but it was a bearable sort of pain—a pain that promised something wholly and significantly better.

Jason inched down to the hilt, the efforts of their lovemaking causing sweat to bead profusely down his forehead, chest, and legs. He could hardly move, or hardly think as he nearly collapsed from his own heavy feelings. Their mouths connected, making them all the more intermingled and difficult to separate into who was who. Leo was crying, Jason shushed him holding him close and whispering words of encouragement in his ear as he pulled his hips back and slowly thrust back inside. "Does it hurt?" He asked quietly, arms wrapped around Leo as he continued to drive home.

"Yes," Leo cried. "But I don't want it to ever stop," Jason didn't know how to feel about that, Leo was hurting but…in a good way? "Jason, faster." His voice was a breathy whine, he refused to open his eyes but Jason obliged him anyway. "Faster," Leo cried out again, his mouth hanging open and his chest jumping up and down as if he were an Olympic sprinter. "Faster!" Jason was pistoning into him now, his legs planted firmly on the ground as he stood over the bed with Leo's hips raised to meet his downward thrusts. The _fwap fwap fwap_ of skin on skin filled the air, along with Leo's loud, unintelligible yelps. They were both sweating now, Leo opened his legs widely and Jason took the change as an invitation, now with every thrust he was sheathing himself to the fullest potential. He was deep inside of Leo, like a key fitting into a lock.

Leo's mind was a pile of goo, absently he was afraid it was going to run out of his ears. Now he couldn't even fully moan Jason's name instead he was cut off with every thrust, "Jace—Jay—Jace—Jah!" White hot pleasure exploded in his belly as Jason poked something inside of him that made his eyes bug. He froze, "There, right there!" Jason grunted, voce basso, and he rammed Leo yet again in that spot that had elicited such a reaction. The next thing Jason knew Leo's insides clenched hotly around him, milking him as he still pushed deeper.

"Leo, I'm so close," He groaned into the receiving young man's ear.

"Ahhh—!" Leo agreed, though it was supposed to be something more along the lines of, "Me too," Then, as if he could take it, his pleasure doubled nearly tenfold; Leo held fast to Jason as he climaxed, shooting a healthy load between himself and the tall blond, slathering them in his thick genetics. Inside Leo grew impossibly tighter and Jason couldn't hold on any longer, he buried his head in the crook of Leo's shoulder and bit down as he, too, climaxed hard, causing another loud yelp from his boyfriend; after which the residual feeling of being spent kept them both silent for about thirty seconds. Jason fell heavily on top of Leo pulling out of him slowly. Leo winced, "Ow, ow, ow, ow," He said until he was uncorked, a strange emptiness took over his insides, making him cling to Jason from his loss.

"Sorry," Jason grinned, kissing Leo's lips. "I love you so much,"

"I love you too!" They kissed again and Leo realized that he didn't want to move, Jason picked him up and moved him over, settling them both down on the bed. It was incredibly hot, but Jason let Leo curl up next to him after the boy pulled the jersey from behind his neck and pulled it back down over his naked body. "That was…I don't even know, wow."

"Wow works for me," Jason grinned proudly, exhausted. "Wow works for me," He said again, then his eyes fluttered shut. "I'm just going to close my eyes for a few minutes, okay?" Leo held tightly to Jason.

"Okay," Leo said sleepily as he continued to kiss Jason's neck and shoulders; he never wanted to leave this spot, or this moment. Two minutes passed and he heard Jason's soft snoring, Leo thought about grabbing his phone and calling Nico but he just didn't want to anymore. All he wanted was to lay there beside Jason for the rest of his life. He closed his own eyes and drifted slowly to a very warm sleep.


	35. Chapter 35

Really?" Nico asked, Percy had a large grin on his face.

"Really, you can come right back. But you need to go get some rest at home, at least take a nap. You've been up and around since you got here last week," The thing was, Percy was sending Nico home for a few hours so the Italian teen could take care of himself, he needed to shower properly and to brush his teeth and get a change of clothing, and get some real rest. Nico would wake up if he so much as bumped into Percy then he would apologize profusely, get out of the bed and check all of Percy's machines, go get a doctor and have him check up on Percy's condition, and then he would sit in a chair for the rest of the night watching him. As sweet as it was Percy could see dark circles forming under Nico's eyes, and his boyfriend hardly ate as it was, but having been detained at the hospital he would only eat scraps of food off of Percy's plate every now and again. "You need to take better care of yourself, baby,"

Nico crossed his arms, "Which one of us is in a hospital bed?" He asked, his eyes narrowing.

"Nico," Percy said sternly, causing Nico to blink. Percy was never stern with him. "Go home, I love you, but if you come back and you haven't gotten any sleep or anything to eat then I'll get up out of this bed and run laps around the hospital."

"Are you serious?" Nico asked almost flippantly, but he saw Percy wasn't going to budge. "What if you need me? I don't want to leave you all alone," The hospitalized brunet held up a remote, which was attached to the wall. This particular remote only had one button on it, one big red button.

"If I need anything I'll call the nurse," Percy said. "Now come give me a kiss and get out of here," Nico's Dad had dropped his car off for him, well Persephone had, Hades wasn't going to drive around in Nico's Golf Sport, but it was under the orders of his father that she had brought the car to him. Reluctantly Nico went on his tiptoes and leaned over the bed, kissing Percy with more fever than he had previously allowed. This time Percy blinked and a lopsided grin crossed his face.

"Still want me to leave?" Nico asked, his voice low and his eyes determined.

"You're teasing me?" Percy asked. "You're going to regret that when I'm well enough to push you up against the wall, I'm going to make you beg for it." Nico stifled a shivered; he couldn't let Percy see his resolve wear thin. "I'm going to make you scream my name, Nico," Nico's eyes filled with lust suddenly, he closed them so Percy wouldn't' see. "Kiss me again," Nico did, he liked when his boyfriend took command. This time the kiss was softer, full of more emotion, and when Nico pulled back he did indeed regret riling his unwell lover up. His on the fly plan had backfired horribly.

"I don't want to go," He said finally, not pouting exactly—he _never_ pouted. Percy nipped his nose, and sweetly kissed his cheek.

"It's only for a little while, Nicky, okay? Just do it for me." Slowly Nico nodded. "I love you."

"I love you more," Nico said, taking Percy's hand, causing the bed ridden young man to smile.

"I highly doubt that," Swatting Nico's bottom he sent the boy on his way. "Get out of here," He didn't _want_ Nico to leave, necessarily, but he wanted him to stop worrying so much and do right by his own needs. Nico would sit there and try to force Percy to heal where modern medicine might require him to let his bones and things regenerate on their own. Percy watched him go, knowing Nico had his best interests at heart, and he hated seeing that sullen look on his boyfriend's face. "Nico," Nico looked up with a sort of last ditch hope that Percy wouldn't send him away. "Cheer up; I'll be here when you get back."

"I know," Nico said, his eyes still full of sorrow. "I still don't want to go," Percy knew it was pointless, but it was for Nico's own good. The boy closed the door behind him and walked to hospital entrance slowly; he passed by a tall doctor pushing an empty wheelchair on his way out and excused himself when they bumped into each other. Once he found his way outside he was thankful to see that the snow had stopped, it was at least seven, maybe eight inches deep but the roads were now properly shoveled and salted. He breathed in the cold Winter air and let it flow through his entire system. He thought about going back inside and forcing Percy to make him stay, but he realized that every relationship needed some give and take and as misguided as he felt Percy was being perhaps the boy did need just the slightest bit of rest. He yawned at that thought and walked forward. Quickly he made nimble leaps down the steps and trudged to his car, just because the snow had stopped didn't mean the winds weren't still incredibly icy. He would have to grab a thicker jacket at home.

There was someone leaning against his car, he realized, a figure in a long black coat and smart black slacks smoking a cigarette. Nico kept going, stopping when he was maybe five feet away. The figure looked over at him with icy blue eyes, clear as crystal, and a disgustingly familiar smile crept over his face. "Nico," He said. "You look like crap. Getting enough sleep?"

"What do you want, Triton?" Nico asked, glowering, he shoved his hands deep into his pockets to stave the cold. He didn't have any sort of weapons on him; in fact, he was completely defenseless save for his fists.

"Is that anyway to treat your would-be brother-in-law?" Triton asked with Percy's smile. Nico shivered for a different reason this time, it was eerie their similarities and it made his blood boil that Triton would dare smile like that. If his chin was just a little less square, and if his eyes were a little darker, and he was just a few inches shorter Triton and Percy could have passed as twins. He stepped forward and Nico held his ground, bullies always backed down if they saw they couldn't scare you.

"Why don't you just go home?" Nico asked. "You don't like me and I don't like you, which means we really need to stop meeting like this." Triton threw his head back and laughed, it was a dark and mirthful chuckle that made Nico's stomach queasy with distrust, then Triton was standing directly in front of him, staring down hard at Nico; he stared down his nose at him like the upper crust might at a poor beggar.

"I really need to find something out," Triton said. "What is it about you that Perseus find so attractive? Why the hell does he like you? Look at you; you're so skinny it's sickening,"

"Not to mention the dick dangling between my legs, right?" Nico replied cheekily. Triton's smile became Cheshire, his hand shot out so quickly that Nico barely noticed it till five long fingers were wrapped around his neck firmly, crushingly. Triton picked him up off the ground with frightening ease, and crushed him against the side of his car. Nico's keys fell out of his hands and skittered onto the ground somewhere.

"I don't think there's a dick between your legs, homo," Triton breathed in his ears. "You're just a flat chested bitch right?" When Nico didn't answer him he slammed him against the side of the car again. "Right?" Nico kicked out with his feet, but he found it rather ineffective. "Say it, say you've got a fucking pussy, queer." He was choking, dark black blotches spotted his vision and Nico gripped onto Triton's arms trying to wrench it away from his throat. With the last bit of air he could spare he spit a thick and copious loogie into his attacker's face. "Fucking motherfucker!" Triton yelled, Nico felt his head connect with the door of his car and for a minute he could not see anything. When his vision return blearily he saw that his efforts had been wiped away by his Triton's free hand, and said free hand was balled into a fist. It hit him squarely in the abdomen, causing him to dry heave. Triton dropped him. "You're going to pay for that,"

Nico sucked in air, "Go to hell, you motherfucker," He wheezed, holding onto his car for support. He felt Triton's hard grip around his throat again, it didn't crush his esophagus this time, but it hurt all the same. "Why are you doing this?"

"Why?" Triton asked. "You think I like making examples out of faggots? Why should Percy get the perfect life? Why should Percy get to have his Stepdad around all the time and have _my_ Dad want him? Why should Percy get to do whatever the fuck he wants and there be no consequences? He disrespects Dad, Dad tries harder to get him, fucks a homo and Dad doesn't care. He just wants his boy." Triton landed another blow, this time connecting it against Nico's sternum. "And then you! Who the fuck do you think you are? You think it's just okay to fuck my brother?" Nico's eyes widened when he felt a hand on the buckle of his jeans. "Maybe you really do have a pussy, let's see."

"Let go of me!" He screamed, punching and kicking Triton wherever his fists and feet would land. They didn't seem to be doing a bit of good.

"Stop struggling, faggot, you like this!" Triton yelled at him. "You like it, don't lie! You just want a dick up your ass, you don't care who's it is," The hand choking him grasped the sides of his mouth so Nico had to stop yelling, that didn't stop him from lashing out with his own hands, clawing and scratching futilely. "Percy thinks he can just have whatever the fuck he wants, well I'm taking you and I'm going to break you," Nico's pants were ripped down his legs. "It's so fucking small, it might as well not be a dick at all," Triton flicked him with his pointer finger, Nico squeezed his eyes closed and tears fell out of the corners. "What's the back look like, I bet it's wrecked." The young Italian teen tried to bite down on Triton's hand, he tried to kick out but he nearly lost his balance as his body was turned around and his arms were yanked up behind his back. "Hm." Triton said upon his inspection. "Not nearly as bad as I thought, I've seen worse,"

"He-lp!" Nico screamed now that his mouth was free but his arms were nearly ripped off the next moment.

"Scream one more time and I'll break an arm, try it a second time and I'll break the other one then I'll have to get creative," He felt a hand slide down his back, groping his rear as if he were a piece of meat. Nico nearly threw up. "I'm going to put it in," He heard, that's when he started to struggle again. He threw his body this way and that but it was no use, he couldn't get away. Sickeningly he felt Triton's warm protrusion thrust between his legs. He cried harder, praying to any god above who would listen. It didn't seem like any of them were listening.

Then the air broke suddenly with a heavy metallic _clunk_ and Nico felt the grasp around him relinquish. He ripped his pants back up and made a dash for it, something caught his eyes which caused him to stop. "Aaron?" He cried.

"That's not Percy," Aaron said, his face set in a stark expression. Nico noticed the toolbox laying at Aaron's feet and the shiny metal wrench in Aaron's hands. "I thought, 'Oh, Nico and Percy are getting kinky against his car,' then I thought that Percy got well way too quickly."

"It's Percy's older brother, Triton," Nico sniffled wiping snot away from under his nose. "He almost—oh God." Nico was suddenly sick, dispelling the contents of his stomach all over the ice and snow slick parking lot. He hugged himself and Aaron dropped his wrench putting his arms around Nico's shaking frame. Aaron didn't shush him; he let Nico cry against his chest for a minute.

"Let's go inside, we'll call the police," He said logically, reassembling his toolkit. He picked up Nico's keys and handed them to him. "People like him disgust me," Aaron sneered, kicking snow at Triton who laid on the ground unconscious with his pants around his ankles. Nico couldn't bring himself to look at Triton; instead he let Aaron lead him back towards the hospital doors.

Inside there was chaos going on, nurses and doctors were running this way and that, general sounds of disarray that you didn't want to hear in a hospital filled the air. Nico looked at Aaron with an eyeful of tears and Aaron looked back, then quickly they made their way towards Percy's room. Once outside of his room they saw Rachel standing against the side of her door with tears in her eyes, Thalia behind her looking shaken to her core. There was a security guard standing in Percy's room, and no one else, a small crowd gathered outside. The only thing that wasn't in Percy's room was Percy himself. "He took him," Rachel said barely above a whisper. "I heard Percy scream and by the time we got to the door he was gone."

"What happened!" Nico screamed at the security guard who wore a dark expression. Nico analyzed the room, it was in complete anarchy; nothing was as he had left it.

"These robes right here," The security guard said. "I think they indicate that whoever this guy was was dressed up like a doctor when he kidnapped the victim," Something clicked in his mind. He had passed a rather tall doctor on his way out, a tall doctor with dark brown hair and ocean colored eyes. He had been so out of it he hadn't even acknowledge passing by Poseidon, Nico shook to his very core. A hand caught around his waist and he looked up at Aaron who was holding tight to his apparently falling pants.

"Buckle your pants, sweetie," Aaron told him. "Take a deep breath, we can figure this out." Numbly Nico buckled and zipped his pants, he let Aaron sit him down in a chair but he simply stared at the bed he had just seen Percy in. Why did that selfish bastard make him leave? If he had been here — but he let that thought fall away. He couldn't do anything against Triton, let alone Poseidon.

Nico broke, he broke just like Triton said he was going to. A low, loud wail came from him and he held his head so that it wouldn't split it in two from the pounding headache that surreptitiously crept into his mind. It was a pulsating sort of headache, the kind that migranes were made of. In the past fifteen minutes he had been sexually assaulted and now his boyfriend had been kidnapped and he sobbed all the louder. Why was this happening to them? Who had they pissed off for this to be happening to them? He just wanted to be happy with Percy, was that so wrong? Was that so bad? He sobbed, long and hard, and in the back of his head he could hear Percy's voice. _"Cheer up; I'll be here when you get back_. _"_ It was so foreboding now. He fervently prayed that they weren't famous last words.

* * *

Percy woke up to an argument, at least it sounded like an argument. His head thrummed and his body hurt in its entirety. He would have asked where he was but his mouth was so dry he was sure his tongue was stuck to the roof of it. Percy was cold, but that was manageable, he was hungry, but that too was overlookable, but most of all Percy had the sinking feeling that something horrible had happened.

"Just what the fuck were you doing down there?" He heard a gruff voice bark. It was, he found upon further introspection, his father's voice. There were warning flares in his mind, loud incessant klaxons that were screaming danger suddenly but his mind was so hazy that he just ignored them and settled back into the comfort of wherever he was. A car seat, he realized. He was buckled up in the back of a car, his head was pressed against the cool glass of the window and it added to the cold that was running through his body like a spike of ice, but he didn't dare move.

"Nothing," That was Triton's voice. "I wasn't doing a fucking thing, I told you that nasty ass faggot got grabby with me because he can't get anything from Percy right now and then his friend snuck up on me and hit me in the back of the head with something, they must have pulled my pants down." Poseidon made a guffawing sound, but he stayed silent. "You got Percy, that's all that matters," If Percy was mistaken Triton sounded a bit bitter, but there was a huge chance he was mistaken because at that moment he just felt like passing back out. "What's the plan? We can't keep him at the house,"

"I'll figure something out," Poseidon said. "It wasn't supposed to happen like this that damned Zeus has been sticking his nose around in places it doesn't belong. He's frozen most of my assets, we've only got the offshore accounts open now and I'll be damned if he finds those."

"We're running? After all this? Percy's never going to trust you, not after we yanked him out of the hospital bed. We were supposed to make his boy toy look bad, Dad." The car came to a skidding stop and Percy felt his seatbelt catch, restraining him from flying forward. The sound of Poseidon's fist connecting with Triton's face filled the car, though Triton didn't make so much as a small yelp.

"Don't you tell me what we were supposed to do. I know what the _fuck_ we were supposed to do." His voice was harsh, threatening. "Things aren't working out as planned, who knew Sally would have friends in such high places. When I left her she didn't have anything, not a dollar to her name," The car was quiet for a while; the only sound was that of the heater blowing hot air into the entire cabin. "Either way, we'll round up your brothers and head down to the marina, we'll sail away. Leave all this shit behind."

"Is he worth all this, Dad?" Triton asked. "What the hell is so special about him?" Poseidon must have hit Triton again because the young man cried out but he still didn't make any other concession to the pain.

Finally Poseidon said, "He is, Tony. I'll be damned if I let one of my boys be raised up as a homosexual. It…it just isn't natural. I had to save him," He sighed heavily. "Percy'll see it my way some day, he just doesn't understand yet. None of you boys do, I've tried hard to be in your lives, but with work and women time gets away from me."

"I've never held it against you," Triton responded in a small voice.

"I know you haven't, kid," Poseidon said a bit more amicably, the car started off down the road again.

* * *

When Percy came to again he was being dragged up the stairs of a large house, he didn't see the details of it, but he heard a small buzz of people, as if the house was full to the brim of inhabitants. Percy was laid down rather roughly in a bed. He grunted because he could feel his bones rattling, he was sure this was too much stress for his body to handle. Something scraped against the wooden floor and Percy managed to open an eye. Plopped down in a chair beside his new bed was Triton. He looked tired and angry. "You're awake," He said, but Percy just remained quiet. "Dad brought you to the house, we're heading out in a day or two, depends on when he can get a boat in, then we're blowing this popsicle stand."

"Just where the hell do you think you're taking me?" Percy groaned.

"I don't know, and I don't care. Look, it's in your best interest if you just forget your old life, okay? Forget that kid, forget everything. You're with us now, that's what's best for you."

"How do any of you know what's best for me?" Percy asked, trying to sit up, his body shook with the effort. "I didn't even know you were alive before you showed up at my graduation, I didn't know I had a brother, or two, or three, however many of you there are."

"Eight," Triton said. "Eight kids, that's how many Dad's got. I'm the second oldest, Tyson's the oldest, but his mental growth is stunted—he thinks he's still a little boy, not to mention all of his other medical problems. Then there's you, the most sought after of all of us." Triton smirked sardonically. "The rest of them are all pretty okay, no birth defects or anything, no one else is gay."

"Why does that even matter?" Percy grunted. "You're all insane if that's such a big deal."

"I don't give a damn one way or another," Triton sat back in his chair, Percy noticed that the sun was dipping below the horizon. "I'd hate you if you were straight, if you were asexual. I don't give a fucking shit about Perseus the Golden Child." Triton leaned forward. "You might not have known about us, but we knew about you. You know your Mom had Dad tied down the longest? He genuinely loved her, everyone else's Mom here was just a fling. My Mom still loves him, she still wants him. I try my damndest to please our old man, I'm better than you in every way. Every damned way, I've fucked more girls, won more awards in school, made a shit ton of money, but it's not enough because he helped raise you. How can any of us live up to that, Percy? He was gone before any of us were old enough to walk," He scoffed. "And she's turned another one of Dad's kids against us, we've got no fucking clue where Odysseus ran off to, that little shit, but you can bet when we find him he'll never leave again."

"Triton—"

"Shut the hell up!" Triton yelled. "You don't get to talk, okay? I just want Dad to look at me like he looks at you, at least once." His voice was dangerously quiet, and then he stood, staring down at Percy with hateful eyes. "You know like that it would be so easy to just snap your neck and say it was an accident? Say you were struggling and everything got out of control? Then I'd be fucking done with you forever." He reached a hand out, settling it over Percy's neck. "Just one good twist," Then he closed his eyes and pulled his arm back. "But I'd get in trouble for just letting you die." He sighed heavily.

"You think I want to be any kind of golden child?" Percy spat at him, glowering up from the bed. "I just want all of you to leave me and Nico the fuck alone, you're all batshit crazy and you need to go to the fucking funny farm. You kidnapped me, and as soon as I can I'll get out of here."

Triton smiled, "That's why I'm here, guard duty. Dad stepped out to take care of some money problems,"

"So I heard," Percy growled. He had to try a different tactic, "If you hate me so much then let me go, I'll stay out of your hair forever. You can have all of Dad's attention if you want it that badly, I don't care. I don't care about him or anything he thinks he can give me."

"That's just it," Triton collapsed heavily in his chair. "You're squandering it, all of Dad's affection, all of his love. He can give you _everything_ Percy, on a silver fucking platter and you're wasting your time on Nico? I don't see what the big deal about that kid is anyway," A devious smile crept over Triton's lips. "I've looked into it and I don't see anything worth keeping on him."

"What the hell's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, nothing," Triton's grin broadened. "Just that you and I are closer brothers now than you think." Percy sat up, but a fiery network of pain shot through his side and sent him collapsing back down clutching at his broken ribs. "Don't get so excited, I didn't even get inside, he's warm. I'll give him that."

"If you touched him—"

"What're you going to do? You can't even move," Triton laughed. "And I'll keep messing with him until he breaks if that's what it takes for you to get the hint."

Panic flared in Percy's chest, "I'll tell Dad," The seated brunet laughed again. "He hates people like me, remember? Then what'll you do when he calling you the faggot? What'll you do without your Daddy's love?"

"We're having a sibling confrontation, a real one, you just threatened to tell Daddy on me." He ran a hand through his messy curls. "Look, you tell Dad and he'll flip so much shit. Nico's life is just barely hanging on by a thread as it is, Dad's not above hurting minors." The last part was said as if experienced firsthand. "So keep your mouth shut and Nico'll keep on living, probably."

"Fucking bastard!" Percy screamed, but again he reached at his side as it exploded in mind numbing pain.

"You brought all of this on yourself," Triton laughed sardonically. "You're a horrible fucking son, you're supposed to call Dad, and you're supposed to come see him. You're supposed to let him know you're still here and that you still love him. That's _your_ job, you see? It's your fucking job as a son,"

"Why is that my job?" Percy glared. "That sounds like something a father is supposed to do; he made me, not the other way around. He is not my responsibility, that's fucking insane to think otherwise. I'm supposed to let him know I still love him? To call him? Come see him? If the fucker didn't have twelve other kids maybe we would see each other more often, if he weren't so busy going out all the time and sleazing around maybe you wouldn't think those were your responsibilities either, Triton. Don't you see that he's just passing off everything that he's supposed to do on you? He's making you feel guilty about the shit he's come short on."

"Shut the hell up," Triton's fists were white as he clenched his knuckles. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about."

"Maybe that's why Odie ran away, because he's got a fucking spine. How's that make you feel? Your ten year old little brother has more balls than you do to get away from his problems." Percy felt his vision double as a fist connected with his patched side, a minute amount of blood worked its way into his saliva.

"You need to keep your fucking mouth shut, Percy, before I close it for you."

Percy spat, "Big man, you can hit me while I'm hurt and can't move, you pick on Nico whose half your size, you pick on women, on your younger brothers I bet. Why? Does it make you feel better about yourself because of what Dad does to you? Shouldn't you be taking that energy and working it into a positive? Trying to help those around you so they don't have to go through what you're going through? Dad's oppressed you so much you think it's okay to do it to others and it's not Triton. It's not fucking okay. This is not okay."

"Shut up,"

"All your sexual conquests, everything you've worked for in school, hurting me. It's all so Dad'll accept you, you don't fucking need him, Triton. You can be a better man than he is, you can get me out of here and you can start all over." Then Percy leaned over the side of the bed. "You can do it,"

"I—"

"Tony, go to your room," Both young men looked up to see Poseidon standing in the doorway.

"Dad—!"

"Now." He said, his eyes dark and not warranting any sort of backtalk. Triton stood, not casting Percy a second glance and quickly exited the room. Poseidon smiled, "I can't leave you alone with anyone can I, Perce?" He grinned, walking forward. There was a bottle in his hands and Percy recognized it as liquor. Poseidon sat in the chair Triton had been using and uncorked the bottle, knocking it back. When he was through, he wiped his mouth and sloshed some of the liquor on the floor accidentally. "Guess what?" He asked rhetorically, Percy didn't answer him. "I'm broke. Flat broke. That bastard got to everything, even the money I laundered through aliases." He let his head fall back. "You boys are all I've got left, Percy and yet you continue to defy me, you know why that is?"

"I'm overjoyed to hear just that," Percy spat angrily.

"Because of your bitch mother, Perce, she brainwashed you against me, I'm trying to be the good guy here, I'm trying to save your eternal soul because somewhere in the Bible it says something about faggotry being wrong, or something,"

"You're drunk," Percy glared.

"Not yet," Poseidon managed a grin. "I've procured a tanker through the last of my connections who'll talk to me; the damn thing doesn't get here for another week though, so there goes that plan. By now I'm sure Sally's called every police officer who'd listen to her yammering,"

"So what're you going to do, let me go?"

"Oh, fuck no, not after all the trouble I went to get you. You and me are just going to sit here and have a nice father/son conversation for a few hours, then I'll figure something out. I have to."

"You're so full of shit," Percy found himself chuckling. "Fucking bullshit!"

"Don't you take that tone of voice with me, young man," Poseidon took another heavy swig of his liquor. "You're in my house now; you'll do as you're told."

"Fuck off,"

"I'll just have to wash your mouth out with soap, won't I?" Poseidon asked and he stood. "Warm water or cold water?" Percy didn't answer, he turned his head away. "That's what I fucking thought," Poseidon smiled. "You want some?" He asked holding up his bottle of something that smelled suspiciously of gin. Again Percy didn't answer. "Oh well, more for me." He hiccupped once and then drowned the rest of his sorrows in straight and very dry gin.


	36. Chapter 36

Percy was wolfing his breakfast down, he was eating for energy. "You sure can put it away," Poseidon observed proudly. He didn't say a word; he just let his father load him up with two more fried eggs and a handful of sausage. "Might want to slow down a little, champ," Poseidon told him, handing more food out to the small militia of children seated around the kitchen table. Percy hadn't cared to learn their names; he was happily ignoring each and every one of them. They all ranged in age, the youngest of them being four—or was it five?—and the oldest besides Tyson and Triton was probably fifteen. Each of them was different in some way, eye width, the size of their brow, thin or full lipped. But, one thing was the same in each and every young man. Curly hair and eyes each varying shades of blue, some were closer to hazel and others to green but it was blue all the same. It seemed that they all had differing personalities as well, but each of them—good or bad—was brought into check at the sight or sound of Poseidon. "Isn't this nice?" The man asked taking a seat at the head of the table beside Percy, Triton wasn't too happy about sharing the right hand seat as he now sat on the left.

"Kidnapping? Aiding and abetting? Assault?" Percy asked, taking another bite of his eggs and shoveling sausage into his mouth. His father chuckled heartily, finally laying down some toast and eggs for himself, he poured himself a generous cup of black coffee.

"No," He said. "Finally sitting together at the table as a family,"

"Where's Odie?" The smallest child, the five year old, asked. "He didn't come home,"

"Eat your food, Orpheus," Poseidon said without looking up from his plate.

"But, Dad—!" The child receiving a scathing look and quieted instantly.

"Odysseus regretfully could not make it to breakfast this morning, but he'll be back soon enough," Poseidon told them. "Now, no more talk about him. Doesn't anyone want to ask their wayward brother Perseus a question?"

"Yeah," This one was the fifteen year old. "What's he doing here? He never came around before,"

"Morpheus—"

"Moses, Dad." The self-proclaimed Moses corrected.

"Morpheus," Poseidon said again. "A better question."

"No, I'll answer it," Percy smiled, he received the same scathing look that had silenced Orpheus but he didn't care about the ramifications of that silencing glare. "Because your father, the man you all so revere, is unequivocally and without a shadow of a doubt, an asshole."

"Perseus!" Poseidon shouted and Triton stood to his feet, his hands slamming the table.

"Are you going to let him sit there and bad mouth you like that?" He yelled at Poseidon. "Why the fuck as we still putting up with his shit, Dad? He doesn't want to be here, let him leave! Messing with him and his friends was fun at first, but now I'm sick of it."

"Triton, go to your room," The eldest of the men said. Triton's mouth hung open, then in a heaving of sighs he pushed his chair into the table with more force than necessary and left. His thoughtful, "Whatever" sailed back into the kitchen and left Poseidon scowling. The breakfast table grew innocuously quiet after that, Percy being the only one sitting there and smiling.

"What happened to you?" This one had thick glasses, what was his name? Daedalus?

"Car crash," Percy told him, flexing his toes. He wasn't well enough to walk, hell he wasn't well enough to stand yet. But when the time came he was going to make a run for it. The little boy who couldn't have been older than seven spoke around a bite of toast.

"Why aren't you in the hospital? You're hurt,"

Percy turned his eyes to Poseidon, "Yes, why aren't I in the hospital, _Dad_?"

"That's enough, no more questions for anyone," Poseidon said, his plate near empty. "Percy is…grounded, Daedalus, so he's not to use the phone, the computer, or even go outside. Everyone understand?"

A rather eerie chorus of, "Yes, father," Broke the air and Percy shook his head.

"I've got a call to make," Poseidon stood, his once full plate that had been brimming to the top with food was now gone. _Well_ , Percy thought to himself, _at least I know where I get my appetite from_. "Morpheus, you're on clean up,"

"Aw, man," Morpheus said, but Poseidon ignored him as he exited the kitchen. Twelve eyes made up of varying shades of blue all turned on Percy at once. It would have been sixteen if Triton and Odysseus were there. "How do you get away with talking to Dad like that?" Morpheus asked him the moment that Poseidon was gone, he was oldest in the room now next to Percy and Tyson, who only smiled like a child.

"He talks about you all the time, but I've never even seen a picture of you," Someone else said, someone who's name Percy didn't even slightly recall.

"Can I sign your cast?" Daedalus asked. "I'll sign it ' _live long and prosper_ ' 'cause Dad let's me watch Star Trek," He smiled widely and made the Vulcan sign of peace. More questions than he cared to answer were asked and Percy sighed. He was happy to be seated in a wheelchair, even if it was stolen as it made getting around a lot easier.

"Well," Percy said, wheeling himself backward. "I'm beat, who'll help me up the stairs?" Six hands flew into the air and Percy sighed again. He felt like a celebrity amongst the masses and shook his head. "Don't worry about it, I'll just crawl back up there."

"Do you have medicine at least?" It was Daedalus again and Percy thought that this kid was quite inquisitive. "I mean hurt people take medicine, right?"

Before Percy could answer that he felt small hands tugging at his shirt sleeve, "Percy," The smallest of them said, but he pronounced it Puh-see. "Do _you_ know where Odie is?" The kid stared at Percy with the biggest eyes he had ever seen; in fact his face seemed to be made up of mostly eye and smile. Damn it, he was adorable. Percy couldn't hold a grudge against any of these boys—none of them hated him the way Triton seemed to hate him and they had done nothing wrong to him.

"If I had to guess I would say he's at my house," Percy told the boy. "At least, that's where I hope he is." Then the kid hugged his neck and Percy just sighed all the harder, he had never asked for this. Orpheus looked at him with a huge grin.

"He safe?" He said in the serious tone that children take when they want to be understood thoroughly. Percy nodded and the little boy broke out into the world's largest grin.

"Is it true you're gay?" This one was fourteen, or maybe thirteen—the one who's name Percy couldn't recall.

"Anti," Morpheus said in the way brothers do when they want the other to shut up, but won't come out and tell them to.

"Don't call me that," The kid looked over at Percy, and the glance he gave him wasn't anywhere near disappointed or disgusted. It was genuinely curious. "I'm Antaneus, if you're going to call me anything please, for the love of God, don't call me Anti. Call me Tanner,"

"Percy," Percy said, reaching a hand across and shaking Antaneus'—Tanner's—hand. "And I don't know what you call it; I have a boyfriend if that's what you mean." He shrugged.

"What's it like?" The whole room grew quiet again.

"I don't know," He told them, "like having a girlfriend, I guess." Percy shrugged again. "I was dating a girl before I started dating Nico."

" _You_ had a girlfriend?" Morpheus sat, he had been piling dishes into the dishwasher but now he was genuinely interested.

"Of course I had a girlfriend," Percy said, almost offended. "What, cause I like guys too I can't have a girlfriend?" The group suddenly seemed bashful, but Percy smiled when he saw the next question appear in Morpheus' eyes.

"Was she hot? Did she have, like, big boobs?" He mimed the universal sign for large breasts and Percy laughed, this was a kid after his own heart.

"She's pretty hot," Percy grinned, "Here, I've got a picture of her on…my…" He trailed off. A while ago Percy had gotten tired of wearing those God awful hospital gowns so he begged his mother to bring him some clothes from home. The medical staff didn't have a problem with it because he showed good aptitude with being able to get himself out of bed and into his wheelchair when he was on his pain meds so if he needed to go to the bathroom he could without assistance, and if he was having trouble he could have always just pressed the nurse call button. He was wearing jeans, which meant he had pockets. His cell phone was still in said pocket. His fucking cell phone was still in his fucking pocket. How could he have been so stupid?

"Are you going to show us?" Morpheus asked, he noticed that the kids older than twelve had gathered around him. Percy tried not to make a show about having the phone; he slipped it back in his pocket stealthily.

"I just remembered I deleted it," He said. "Shame too, she's blonde, nineteen. Cute smile, nice body," He told them and then mimed the same sign Morpheus had in front of his chest, the boys all sighed dreamily.

"How far did she let you get? This one time a girl I know let me feel her boobs," These kids were horndogs. Percy wondered if he was anything like them.

"We got pretty far," He told them, Orpheus tugged on his shirt sleeve again.

"Boobies," He laughed, giggling childishly behind his hands. Percy couldn't help but laughing slightly, making the best of a bad situation. He needed to keep their attention.

"Anyone here got a girlfriend?" He asked.

"Well," Tanner said. "There's this girl I really like in school…" After that Percy was regaled with tales of all the young men's run ins with young women, he tried to seem interested and he figured he must have looked it because no one made mention of his phone, it didn't even seem to be relevant anymore now that he had mentioned girls. When Poseidon came back into the room the boys were all laughing and smiling jovially.

"Dad!" Daedalus said. "Percy's so cool!"

"He's alright," Antaneus said, but a small smile tugged at his lips. Percy figured him to be pessimistic type because the next thing he knew Poseidon was laughing.

"Well, if Antaneus likes you you must be a riot," He grinned. "See, it's not so bad here is it?" Percy didn't say a word to him. "Either way, finish getting this kitchen clean. Percy, I have some pain killers if you want one?"

"No thank you," Percy said stiffly, he desperately wanted one, Orpheus had climbed into his lap and was quite happily sitting there leaning against the one spot on Percy's side that hurt the most, but he wanted to be coherent when he made his phone call. First he would call someone from his family, then he would call the authorities.

"Suit yourself," His father grinned. "It does my heart good to have you here, Perseus." It was a wondered Poseidon did not have the world's largest hangover—he had drunken the entire bottle of gin and then in procession had a few beers the night previous. After about thirty minutes Percy had feigned sleep so the man would leave him alone as he did not want to speak to him, at all.

"Can someone take me upstairs? I'm tired," Percy lied.

"Morpheus, help your brother up the steps, Antaneus carry the wheelchair,"

"Yes, father," The boy's echoed. Morpheus, who was rather tall for a fifteen year old, pulled Percy's arm over his shoulder and helped him out of the kitchen while Tanner, who was tall for a thirteen year old, pushed the wheelchair behind them. They took the stairs one at a time, Orpheus trailing behind them with a huge grin. While they ascended the stairs, slowly, Percy couldn't help but wincing.

"Anyone else notice," He said between his teeth. "that we've all got the worst names in the world?" Morpheus, who Percy came to finally call Moses after a while, and Tanner both laughed.

"Dad's just really into Greek mythology," Tanner shrugged.

"Granddad was, actually," Moses corrected. "Guess what his name was?"

"Kronos." Percy said. "Yeah, I know." He grinned, though it was strained. "Do you guys really like living here?"

"Oh, we don't live here," Moses said. "Dad gets us all on the weekends or during breaks from school but we all go back home to our Moms once they're over."

"Yeah, Dad really doesn't seem to like your Mom though, he's always cussing when he says her name."

"Yeah, well, my Mom doesn't really like _Dad_ either," Percy told them. "I'm not his biggest fan myself." They led him into the room appointed for him and Orpheus and Daedalus, or Philly and Davie as they preferred to be called—Orpheus' nickname given to him by his brothers since he couldn't think of one on his own—came barraging in behind Percy, Tanner and Moses. They sat him on the bed.

"Percy, Percy, Percy!" Davie—Daedalus—said excitedly. "Can I sign your cast now? Can I?"

"Sure, kid," Percy said and a smile to match Philly's spread over Dave's face, he took off and ducked out of the room, ran across the hall and returned with a lime green dry erase marker. He sat on the bed and went to signing Percy's cast.

"What were you and Dad arguing about last night?" Moses asked, taking the seat Poseidon had been in the whole night. Tanner leaned against the wall and Percy couldn't help but see himself in each and every one of their faces. He closed his eyes and sighed heavily.

"Everything," Percy told him. "Your Dad kidnapped—"

"Hey, booger-eaters, get out of here," Percy's eyes flew open. Triton was standing at the doorway. The boys all begrudgingly made their way out of the room without a word, everyone but Davie who was adding the finishing touches to his creative signature. "You two, dog-breath," Triton said, looming over the child.

"But, Tony, I'm not done…" Triton took the marker out of his hand.

"You are now, go." Davie scowled at his older brother but ran out of the room when Triton feigned punching him. "Hey! Next time I see you you get two for flinching." Then they were alone.

"What do you want?" Percy asked when Triton closed the door behind the kids.

"It's my job to keep them from asking too many questions is all," Triton shrugged. "I don't want you here anymore than you want to be here."

"I highly doubt that," Percy told him. "You know, my offer from yesterday is still open. You can help me get out of here."

"Look," Triton told him. "I got Dad to get you a fucking wheelchair so you can get around up and around here by yourself, that's all I can do for you." He shook his head. "I can't believe I almost listened to you."

"You should have." Percy said. "You still should." There was a knock at the door and Triton opened it. It was Tyson.

"Hi, Percy! Hi, Tony!" He grinned, he was a large one, probably twenty-five, but his face betrayed nothing but innocence all around. His left eye was milk white with blindness, but his good eye met Percy's amiably, with no hint of any sort of malice or interest; just pure, unabashed happiness.

"Hey, buddy," Triton said, surprisingly gentle. "Why don't you go to your room and color?"

"Coloring!" Tyson smiled gleefully, then he walked away from the door and presumably went to his own room. Triton closed the door behind him and sighed heavily, leaning his forehead against it.

"I know I'm a bad person, Percy," He said quietly. "I'm the worst kind of person, but I don't care anymore." His shoulders rose and fell languidly with his slow breathing. "I used to hate who I had become, but the more I did shit I normally wouldn't do the more Dad started wanting to spend time with me. The more he loved me."

"Why does it matter if he loves you or not?" Percy asked.

"You wouldn't fucking care, you've got a Dad. A real one," Triton said, referring to Paul. "I've been watching you for a long time, Percy. I had to, Dad talks about you so much it was driving me crazy. 'You know I bet Percy would like this game," He imitated Poseidon's voice. "Or, 'Look at that girl, she'd look good on Percy's arm," He sighed. "I've seen you and that guy at the park together, tossing the football or playing a one on one pick-up game. Why is it that you get that and I don't? I'm the older brother; I shouldn't be living in your fucking shadow, man."

"You think that's any excuse for your actions?" Percy asked.

Triton leered and smiled at the same time and it made for a horrible effect, "I'm not asking for your forgiveness, or for your fucking compassion." He said quite fiercely. "I just figured you deserved to know _why_ I hate you so much."

"Do you hate me, or do you hate who Dad thinks I am—who you can never be?" They were quiet after that. "Triton, I could forgive anything you guys did to me. Hell, you could have both been in the car that made me crash and I wouldn't care. That's the kind of guy I am, but when you mess with the people I love that's when I get fucking upset. So I want you to know why I'm going to beat the shit out of you for touching my boyfriend."

Triton opened the door, "I look forward to it," He threw over his shoulder then he stepped out and closed it behind him. Percy sighed heavily, he quickly pulled the cell phone out of his pocket, and rapidly hit call.

* * *

A dark, dark rain cloud had fallen over everyone's relatively slowly lightening Winter Break and mood. Percy had been kidnapped, Nico had almost been raped, there was no winning. Nico couldn't be consoled; he refused to come out of Percy's room. He refused to eat, to sleep; he just sat in bed crying. Grover had tried to talk to him. Aaron had tried, Rachel, Annabeth, Juniper, Thalia, Jason, even Leo had tried and he was the worst person when it came to people and their feelings. But he wouldn't talk to anyone, not even his father.

Hades himself was in the darkest sort of mood, he was beyond pissed and he was calling every connection he had to hunt down Poseidon Jackson. But, as mad as Hades was it did not compare to the anger in the surprisingly aggressive Paul Blofis. "What the fuck do you mean you'll keep get to us when you can?" He screamed into the phone, talking with the police. It seemed that Poseidon was still slightly untouchable, there was no witness that could say they _saw_ Percy being taken and considering he was no longer a minor there wasn't a lot the local authorities could do for them. Finding Poseidon was proving to be difficult as well. His home, one of many apparently, was vacant.

Zeus, however, was seated on the Blofis' couch, quietly sipping his wine. He knew Poseidon couldn't make a move, he couldn't get anywhere not without any sort of money, and the moment he tried to use any sort of card or identification Zeus would know about it. "How about you do your _job_ and find my son!" Paul yelled and slammed the phone down on the receiver so hard it nearly shattered.

"Paul," Sally said quietly, dully. "I just got Odysseus to sleep," She informed him, when she had found out that Poseidon had taken Percy she had cried and after she was done crying she found herself simply doing it all over again. Then, she just stopped. Sally couldn't feel anything anymore but numbness and that hurt all the more. She clenched her fingers so hard in her fists that her nails drew blood. Paul was quiet, his dark eyebrows drawn together in a mixture of anger, concern, and fatigue. He took her hand and unclenched her fist, wiping the blood away with the handkerchief in his jacket pocket.

"Don't do that," He told her just as quietly as she said. "We'll find him."

Sally shook her head, "I've been so afraid he would do this," She told him. "That he would take Percy from us. He's never liked the fact that I wouldn't let him see him, he hated me because of it but I didn't care. I didn't want my boy—our boy, yours and mine, around that kind of misogynistic, chauvinistic, pig-headed, asshole." Her shoulders shook as well. "Turns out Poseidon's got a whole stable of sons, but Percy was the prize amongst them. You know why?" She asked rhetorically, still shaking her head. "Because Percy was like forbidden fruit, he could go see his other kids anytime he wanted to, but Percy? Oh, Percy was like the fucking Rosetta Stone."

"Here," Persephone pressed a cup of coffee into Sally's hands, it was decaf. "Sit down, dear." Persephone guided both grieving parents to their seats on the couch opposite the love seat. Without Paul's yelling the living room was intensely quiet, no one spoke, most hardly dared to breathe. Percy was being held prisoner against his will somewhere and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

* * *

Nico was a mess. Somehow he felt all of this was his fault, if he would not have flown off the handle about the kiss Percy would not have wrecked his car, and if Percy had not have wrecked he wouldn't have been so weak that he couldn't fight back against his Dad. Nico couldn't even cry anymore, his tears had run dry but his eyes still prickled and now his stomach was paining him to no end from the constant need to throw up. If he were in his room he might be destroying everything, if he were in his room he would have punched so many holes in the wall, broken his headboard, his guitar, ripped down posters done something to just help alleviate all the violent feeling swelling inside of him underneath his heavy, heavy sadness.

Just when the worst feeling of despair he had ever felt so far had settled into his chest, a blinding, stabbing, piercing melancholic darkness so sharp that Nico thought it would rip him in twain, his phone rang. But, his phone didn't just ring, it _rang_. The ringtone was one of those annoying, overly autotuned, overly studio-mixed songs that he only put up with in the car rides with one certain Person. The same Person who had set the ringtone so Nico would know it was Him calling. Nico's ears perked up and he jumped, nearly screaming for his phone. He found it on the floor under the bed when the song was halfway over. "Percy!" His voice was rough from the crying, he sounded hoarse and nasally but he didn't care.

" _Nico_ , _I don't have long_." Percy started off by saying quickly in his ear. " _I love you_." He said.

"I love you too," Where Nico thought he didn't have the strength to cry anymore he found a second wind, tears overflowed down his face in abundance now.

" _I don't know where I am_ , _the street sign is too far away for me to see from this window and I was still pretty unconscious when they brought me in_. _Wherever it is it's a nice neighborhood_. _We_ ' _re still in the state_ , _I think_ , _but Dad_ ' _s talking about getting a boat and taking us all somewhere. You—tell my Mom I love her too_ , _okay_? _If I don_ ' _t get away I want you all to know I love each and every one of you_."

"Percy—" Nico had never heard his own voice like that, even when the thought that Percy had cheated on him had been in his mind he had never heard so much pain and need culminated together with bitter despondency and regret. Even when he thought Triton was going to do all those horrible things to him—he closed his eyes and simply cried harder.

" _Be strong for me_ , _okay baby_?" Percy asked, and Nico could hear that familiar smile in his words, that smile that had made Nico a better person. " _I_ ' _m going to call the police next_. _I love you, Nico_ ,"

"Percy! Percy, please don't go yet!" Nico sobbed, and then heard something on the other end of the phone. He couldn't make out whose voice was speaking but at the next moment the line went violently, and so very coldly dead. There wasn't even a dial tone to comfort him thanks to the technology of our day. Suddenly Nico missed the sound of Percy's voice. He wanted to sit there and cry, he wanted to bawl his eyes out but there was a fire in his belly now. Nico jumped up and opened Percy's door with a heavy swing, he marched with purpose into the living room full of gathered teens and adults and they all turned to look at him morosely. "Percy called me." He said, his voice shaking obtrusively. Then his knees buckled and he fainted.

* * *

Poseidon snapped Percy's phone. He snapped it in half, then in fourths, then he crumbled it into eights and if it would not have been almost finite dust he would have gone to sixteenths, and maybe even thirty-secondths. "How dare you!" He shouted at Percy, who was glaring at him. "Give, give, give that's all I've done for you and what do you do in return? You call _him_?" Percy's brothers were all gathered outside of the door, even Triton, staring in at the ruckus.

"Do you think I'm afraid of you?" Percy asked in a voice that was far stronger than he actually felt. Nico was devastated, if he couldn't hear that much over the phone then he would have either had to have been deaf or dumb. He had to get away, if not for himself then for Nico. He wasn't sure how much more stress his young boyfriend could handle, but on that note he wasn't sure how much more stress his body could handle either. Mentally he was fine, but he was tired and there wasn't a part of him that didn't hurt now. He was putting on his bravest front, but if Poseidon pressed him much harder he might have passed out.

"I can make things very difficult for you, Perseus," Poseidon told him darkly. "If you'll just stop fighting me and—"

"No!" That might have been too much, he felt all of his cells and nerve endings throb at one time and he closed his eyes in mind numbing excruciation. This time his words came out as a hiss, "I won't stop fighting you, ever!"

"Then stay in here and rot!" His father turned on his heel and moved to the door, all of Percy's brothers dispersed in one large exodus, and he slammed it closed. It still shuddered seconds after its initial closing. Fatigue hit Percy like a ton of bricks and his head hit the pillow the moment Poseidon was gone. Percy breathed deeply, his chest expanding and compressing greatly with the efforts of his breathing. Sweat was beading down his forehead and he squeezed his eyes closed. He heard the latch for the door release and he tried to sit up but the effort was too much for him.

"Here," It was Daedalus. "A sick person really needs medicine," Two pills were pushed into his mouth and awkwardly so was water squirted from a bottle. "It's just Tylenol; it's all I could reach,"

"Thank you," Percy coughed, his younger brother smiled handsomely behind his gigantic glasses. The kid was smart; he didn't speak in that childish, questioning way that kids (some even years older than him) still spoke. He seemed like the kind of kid who would give Annabeth a run for her money if he stuck to his schooling.

"Tomorrow I want to finish signing your cast," He grinned briefly and flashed Percy the Vulcan peace sign again. "But I have to go before Dad sees me," He told him hurrying to the door. "Feel better, Percy!" Then the door closed again.

The medicine must have been both extra-strength and fast acting because a few minutes later he was feeling better. Relief flooded his system and he sighed. Percy had to get out of there, just because he had somehow won over the younger children didn't many anything. Anyone with any real kind of power seemed to be disinclined to help him. That person being Triton, without his help Percy didn't think he _would_ be able to escape. But, Triton was so worried about shining in their father's eyes that he wouldn't even bat an eyelash in Percy's direction. Percy had to change that, his new prime objective: get Triton's help.

Even if it killed him.


	37. Chapter 37

"Got him," When Zeus Grace said things like that about people whom he had been tracking it could only mean one of two things. One, someone was financially screwed, or two, someone was about to be screwed in a completely different, more imaginative kind of way. Be that good or bad it was up to Zeus' discretion. Hera looked over his shoulder at the laptop currently sitting on top of his lap.

"He tried to use his credit card," She read through the tracing program's algorithms with a small, tight smile on her unwrinkled and quite botoxed face. "What's this?" She pointed at the screen.

"A pseudonymof his," Zeus smirked staring at the named registered for the offshore Swiss account. "Literally translated it means God of the Seas."

"Who does this guy think he is?" She sneered, taking a seat beside her husband. "New money always is such an upstart among the commoners." She was referring to the categories of the rich. There was new money and then there was Old Money. Old Money had and would always be around. Old Money was what you called the families who built their funds over centuries and had them disturbed through several other, untouchable accounts. Like the Kennedys or the Rockefellers, or even the Graces. New money, well, people like Poseidon were considered new money. People who had just enough means to be dangerous but whose profits had only been around for four generations or less. It occurred to her that that might not have been the best choice of words with her present company though, "Apologies, Hades,"

The dark haired man paid her no attention while the others in the room simply pretended not to have heard the comment. Zeus was, they were all finding out, richer than any man, woman, or child needed to be for several lifetimes. A fact he had pointed out to his son privately where he had berated him about going through such seedy means to get to college, all Jason could do was stare at the floor and apologize profusely. But, that conversation was over and apparently all was forgiven amongst the inner sanctum of teenagers and adults. All anyone wanted was for Percy to be back.

"When do we bust him?" Nico asked; everyone was surprised at the change of heart that had been developing in Nico over the past few days. He had gone from reasonably, but unreachably sad to fierce, cunning, and at times a bit savage. If the situation were less serious Rachel might have joked that Nico was going to track down Poseidon with just his sense of smell.

"We'll have to let the program run for a while," Zeus told him. "And _we_ don't bust him; you let the nice Federal Agents that I keep on payroll worry about rescuing Percy." Nico rolled his eyes defiantly. Hades knew what his son was capable of; he hadn't seen Nico so livid since his mother had first passed. His dark moods always moved from the stage of inconsolable grief to blinding rage, but this time said rage had a target, a directive.

"How does this thing even work?" Grover asked staring at the computer screen.

"It follows the electronic signature of his credit cards every time he uses one," Zeus explained. "If it can't locate that then there's a failsafe where it will rifle through his credit card history and find something electronic of his and track that. Be it a cell phone or anything that can be picked up on GPS, anything. If _that_ fails," He continued. "then it'll dig deeper into all of his records online, whether they've been encrypted by the Government or not, and bring me any information I need. Addresses, phone numbers, his social, the names of all his children, basically his life would be on display for me."

"You're a scary man," Paul observed from the wall he was leaning against sipping his diet Coke.

"Luckily I'm on your side," Zeus winked.

"What I don't understand," Thalia said. "Is why he would go to such extremes? What's his goal?"

"Poseidon was a passionate man," Sally said, sitting on the opposite couch, she looked far off. She looked as if she hadn't slept, as if she hadn't eaten in days and both were quite true. It was all she could do not to grab her keys and drive to each and every home she knew that her ex-husband owned and knock down every door till she found her son. "But why he's gone this far I can't even say. He might not even have an objective, maybe he's just doing this because he wants to. That's the kind of selfish man he's become—no, it's the kind of man he's always been. He feels entitled to any and everything that pleases him."

"He's trying another card," Hera said as the algorithms appeared before their eyes.

"We'll let him access some money," Zeus decided, typing a few buttons. Numbers flew across the screen, numbers and words and things that Jason didn't think he would ever be able to understand, but his sister's eyes were following everything that happened almost comprehendingly. "You should intern with me this Summer," He heard his father whisper to her, she didn't answer instead she just watched all the mathematics fly by.

"Why did you do that?" Persephone wondered, she would not have given Poseidon any money.

"He's trying to purchase passports," Zeus said. "Let him thinks he's got me beat so he can lead me right to him,"

"Don't toy with this man," Hera reprimanded darkly. "He's kidnapped poor Perseus, your game of cat and mouse can always be put on hold."

Zeus just grinned, "Too late," He said. "What's done is done, now, let the program route us to any cell phone or electric device he's recently used or purchased…" There was a blip on the screen, suddenly a map popped up and a small red dot blinked at them as it moved slowly across said map. "It's locked onto the computer in his car's engine," Zeus observed, grinning. "Ironic isn't it? Those new smart cars are supposed to be safer but this one's sealed his fate,"

"A very scary man, indeed." Paul continued, just drinking his Coke. Inside he was happy though, happy that they were that much closer to finding his son.

"I like him," Hades grinned. "He's got style."

* * *

Poseidon was most decidedly at the end of his rope. That was evident by his speeding; he was never an incautious driver. That damn Zeus Grace had not only frozen but tapped almost all of his monetary accounts, Greek bastard. Luckily for him he was smarter than Zeus, he had money places that the damn man could never get to. That was how he had just expressly bought nine passports and cut through all the red tape that normally caught other, less important people as himself, up.

Percy was _his_ son. Sally had hid him away long enough, damn it. That bitch. Percy was his son and Poseidon would not be disrespected any longer, by anyone. His associate with the boat was travelling to the nearest harbor as fast as he could, all of Poseidon's vehicles—save the luxurious 2012 Plymouth he was driving, advanced off the lot—had been seized. Houses of his had been taken, some of the mothers of his children were even calling him to know what was going on. Apparently Feds had been around to talk to all of them. But, Poseidon was smart. He set up a dead number, anytime anyone called his old phone it redirected them to this one which, he had been assured, was untraceable.

Zeus was watching him. He knew it; he had done some research of his own. Zeus Grace came from a filthily wealthy family and a very elite social order. He was a behind-the-scenes man for politicians when he wanted to be, he could swing votes from both the Senate and the House for whichever representative he wanted in the White House. There were photos of Zeus with Prime Ministers and Ambassadors from some very important countries, countries that would remain nameless but were, for all intents and purposes, thought hostile and dangerous. There were also photos of Zeus with many, many famous people. Everyone from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to Courtney Cox and Bon Jovi and everyone in between; Zeus had been in a powerful position since the late seventies at a very young age thanks to his father's influence and Poseidon found that if he had any opponent it would be him.

But, to reiterate, Poseidon was smart. He was smart and he was keeping his cool, even if under his hands the steering wheel had become dented by his clenched fingers. He wiped beaded sweat off of his forehead, he hadn't realized how hot it must have been. Poseidon went to turn the air on only to find that it was blasting as cold as was possible. He shook his head, he wasn't scared. There were plenty of other reasons for him to be sweating buckets. It was unseasonably scorching for a Winter's Day. There were, he realized, two days till Christmas.

Parking the car he quickly got out, unbuttoning his jacket even though it was snowing again. He went up the steps of his porch and threw the door back, nearly ripping it off the hinges. "Dad?" He looked over at the sound; all the boys were gathered in the living room. Everyone but Triton who would not have anything to do with Percy.

"Did he use the phone today?" Poseidon asked harshly, the boys shook their heads 'no' seeing the look of great anxiety on their father's face. "Did he use the computer? Go outside?" Again they said no. "What're you doing?" He came into the living room hurriedly. They were playing a game on their Playstation 3. "Don't you know that if someone were looking for us they could find us through this thing!" He shouted, picking it up. Then in one feat of strength that even he had never displayed and with a bout of bitter, bitter anger he threw it against the wall shattering the system and a good portion of his drywall.

Orpheus began crying and Poseidon turned on all of them. "Dad, you don't look so well," Daedalus informed him, the young man came forward with his hand out as if he were about to examine Poseidon.

"I'm fine!" He shouted causing Daedalus to quickly step back. He cleared his throat and straightened his tie, running a hand through his hair. "Who's in the mood for pizza?" He asked with a sudden greasy smile, though it was transparent, underneath they could all see how frazzled he was. Poseidon crossed to the kitchen in three large strides leaving them with a gaping hole in the wall and a ruined game of racing.

Percy watched the spectacle with a small smile on his face; he was seated almost comfortably on the couch. Before Poseidon had so wholly burst through the door he had been contemplating every route through which he could get out of it and into Triton's car before anyone could stop him. Considering that standing hurt and walking was near impossible for him the odds had not been good, but his father's unusual display had him in much better spirits.

Something or someone was getting to his Dad. Poseidon was cracking under a pressure that was unknown to Percy, but the young man hoped that when those levees broke his father didn't survive.

* * *

In the kitchen Poseidon was quickly kneading dough. Well, to be precise he was destroying something that had once been comparable to dough and was now a poor doughy cousin to its former splendor. His phone rang. " _Boss_?"

"Yeah," It was another associate of his who everyone called Meat, indicative of his large, bulbous size and the lobster red tone of his skin that he called a tan. "what is it?"

" _Fat Gianni's been seeing a lot of searches coming up in the National databank_ , _searches with your name in the title,_ " Meat informed him. " _He_ _says it might stir up some trouble_ ,"

"Can he stop it?" Poseidon asked, dropping the putty like substance that had once been dough, or at least something akin to it. He heard a few clicks of the keys.

" _It's done, you into anything serious, Boss? This is some pretty advanced stuff,_ "

"What's the first rule of the game, Meat?" Poseidon asked.

" _No questions_ ," The answer made Poseidon smile now, a genuine and relieved, albeit it dark, smile. " _You get that other job_ _done_? _With your little flamer_?"

"It's done," Poseidon said. "The phone's might be bugged, only call me if my name comes up again." Meat said he would do just that, "Now, I need you to do something for me…" Poseidon's whole operation wasn't what some might call legal. Jackson Waterworks was a fall company for something much bigger, Poseidon worked with a lot of people himself. A lot of people who some might consider dangerous. Sometimes they might need someone else to disappear, and there was no grave bigger than the ocean.

If Zeus was putting the squeeze on him then he would just have to squeeze right back.

* * *

"Shit," Zeus said, the screen began blanking and accounts started disappearing left and right. "he's caught on to us,"

"Is that a problem?" Hades asked.

"Not really," The streak bearded man grinned. "He's entitled to feel like he's accomplishing something." His fingers flew over the keyboard now, competency bordering on God-like as sequences and equations were easily written up.

"Zeus..." Hera warned.

"What? It's not cat and mouse, I swear." His smile was dark, ominous. "Poseidon wants to play with the big boys and he's messed with my family, and my kid's little friends. I'm just having some fun."

"Less fun, Dad, and a little more pinpointing Percy's location,"

"Oh, that?" Zeus pulled up the map. "Right there, nice little neighborhood in the 'burbs," He shrugged. "I sent that to the FBI ages ago," If it wasn't evident Zeus had always pictured himself a god among men. He, of course, only used his powers for good; or, at least good in his own sense of the word. Funnily, if he were just the slightest bit less understanding, just a smidge more close minded Zeus could almost, almost sympathize with Poseidon. They had very similar traits and tactics he realized. Zeus justified his because he knew that in the long run they were better options for people, while he felt Poseidon's own actions were due to greed and a shallowness so thin he could almost see through it to the rotten core that lay underneath.

"Stop playing around!" It was Nico, all eyes turned to him. "Percy's in danger. For every minute he's not in the hospital recovering it's a minute that brings him closer to death."

"That's a bit dramatic," Zeus smirked. "The boy is fine, so long as his father hasn't been putting him through strenuous activity. Now, unless you want me to call the FBI and tell them how to do their jobs there's not a lot else I can do. I can expunge something off your juvenile record if you want?" Nico huffed loudly and turned on his heels, storming out of the house. He was tired of Zeus' haughty attitude; he was tired of feeling helpless. Before he realized it he was at his own car.

"Where do you think you're going?" It was his father.

"For a drive," Nico said; Hades put a hand on his shoulder. He turned Nico around. Dressed from head to toe in black his father looked like a beacon of darkness, an ebon monolith in an otherwise Winter wonderland. Nico realized that he probably didn't look much different himself. From afar it might appear as if two shadowy figures were plotting and planning. In reality, it was only a father and son talking.

"You're not thinking about driving out to where Percy is, are you?" Hades asked. "Because I couldn't think of a punishment heavy enough to let you know the consequences of your actions. Grounding would just leave you time to think of ways for escaping, and you're too old for me to put over my knee." Nico wrenched his shoulder out from under his father's grip.

"I wasn't going to." He said. "I just want to be alone for a few hours."

"Be alone inside," Nico stared in open protest at his father, whose stony face showed no hint of compassion. Nico sighed heavily; he pushed past Hades who watched him return back into the Blofis' home. His expression became soft then. "I'm sorry, boy." Then he marched back into the house as well, closing the door behind him.

* * *

"Fuck!" Poseidon slammed his fist into the wall; he was going to have to pay someone a lot of money to repair all of these holey walls he was accruing.

"Yeah, thanks," Triton closed his father's phone. "Fat Gianni says they can't shut it down this time." His son let him know, again Poseidon struck his home.

"He's sucked me dry," The man growled. "Why the fuck didn't you tell me Jason Grace was _his_ kid?" Triton looked up at his father. "This is all your fucking fault, if you wouldn't have involved one of the world's most powerful men we wouldn't be in this situation." Poseidon screamed. "Once again, Triton, you've been a disappointment. Why I ever got drunk and had sex with your whore mother I'll never know." Triton stood then, at the end of his own rope.

"What did you say?" He asked, his voice barely a whisper but the ferocity in it could be unmistaken.

"Finally grew a pair did you, boy?" Poseidon asked loudly. "I said your mother's a whore, I said you're the idiot who broke my fucking bank account! What, are you deaf as well as stupid?" He saw anger flash murderously in his second oldest son's eyes and he grinned widely. "What, are you going to take a swing on your old man? Try it." Triton was visibly shaking. "Or maybe you're going to cry." Slowly he watched his son fall back into his chair, his chest was rising and falling with heavy, laboring breaths.

"I'm sorry," He whispered.

"Damn right you are," Poseidon said harshly. "But, it can't be helped. If Percy had been raised right he would have never gotten us in this predicament." The older man shook his head, "We'll have to change houses soon again, they're closing in on us. Go tell your brothers to get ready," Triton stood, again shakily, all of his muscles tensed. Then, his father reached out and grasped his shoulder. "You're a good kid," He said.

" _Just not good enough_ ," Triton whispered under his breath, he felt his father squeeze and then relinquish him and he walked away.

* * *

"Nico?" Grover opened Percy's door, he knew he shouldn't have, he knew he should have just left Nico alone for a while but Grover was keen on doing things he knew he should not have done. See, there was a trick to opening Percy's door that he and his aforementioned best friend had discovered. If you popped the handle up and twisted hard to the left the locking mechanism from the other side came undone. Nico was seated on Percy's bed just staring at the floor, there was a deep set anger running down his brow and into his eyes. Grover had seen Nico upset plenty of times, he was a moody kid, he had seen him hurt at least twice, seen him happy more times than he could count, and about as many as that he had seen him sad, but this was something completely different. This was, he realized, that di Angelo hatred that Percy had mentioned to him a few times before.

The young Italian teen swept Grover with those eyes that burnt like thick, dark coals only for a second but that was enough to raze his soul. Grover felt every last bit of bitterness in Nico's body, it was enough to make him want to break something. Anything. Then, as if he had been intruded upon in his most private of selves, Nico turned away and his eyes lost that gleam of malice. "What is it, Grover?" Nico asked not looking at him. Grover came in and sat down on the bed beside him, he put an arm around his shoulders.

"You might not know this," Grover said. "But Percy's my best friend," Nico looked at him as if he had grown a second head and then as if he were the stupidest person in existence. Grover laughed at that, "Percy's not just my best friend though, Nico, he's my _best_ friend. Percy's my brother." He said. "I would do anything for Percy, forgive him for anything. Dude could seriously slap my Mom and I would forgive him, after I beat his ass into another coma of course, but you get it?"

"You're trying to say you miss Percy just as much as I do," Nico replied.

"No," Grover said leaning with his arms behind him on the bed. "I can't miss Percy the way you miss him, I miss Percy like my brother was kidnapped you miss Percy like a part of you got taken. He's a part of me too, but it's not the same. You, me and him? Well, I guess we're all just stuck with each other," He smiled at Nico again. "You're something like a brother-in-law, I would say,"

"You're trying to make me feel better?" Nico asked.

"Well," Grover smiled darkly, mischievously. "yes and no. Kinda. Look, I heard what that Zeus guy said, and while I'm down with Poseidon getting knocked into next week by some Feds I for one can't sit idly by while my brother is being held hostage."

Nico sighed, "What are you saying, Grover?"

"G-man," Grover corrected, "that's what you're supposed to call me," Nico couldn't help it, he smiled. No matter how small it was, no matter how minute or quick it had been and then left it was a smile and Grover had seen it.

"Alright, G-man, what are you saying?" Nico asked.

"Well, I'm not _not_ saying we should steal away in the middle of the night with Jason and Leo and scope out the place they've got Percy. I'm not _not_ saying we should bust into that place and retrieve my bro, and I'm definitely not, _not_ saying that I just got back from the gas station so I have a full tank of gas, if that's what you're insinuating."

"You idiot," They looked up, Rachel stood at the door with her arms crossed, plaster cast over uncovered arm. "You'll never get anywhere if you just take you, Nico, Leo, and Jason you need someone with a brain," She limped slightly into the room and she thought she closed the door behind her. "And if you're going to plot you need to at least close the door so someone who's going to bathroom doesn't accidentally hear whatever you're planning."

Grover's already dark skin darkened with an embarrassed blush. "You're limping, Rachel," Nico said redundantly.

"Yeah," Rachel replied, flippantly. "And I'm still loads more flexible, reflexive, and resourceful than all of you combined."

"It'd be difficult for you to break in somewhere quietly with a busted knee," Grover told her.

"Haven't you figured out that I like challenges," She smirked, a hand wrapped around her shoulder.

"Planning something without me?" Thalia asked, grinning. The door had swung back open thanks to Grover's popping the latch out of place.

"I should probably fix that back," Grover decided, standing. "If one more person comes in here then we might as well include the entire house."

"Well," The dark haired girl said, "I heard most of the plan too, I was following Rachel to make sure she didn't fall on her way," She received a scathing look from the red haired girl and chuckled, "You never know, you might have," She grinned. "Anyway, I don't know how you think you're going to get there without an exact address; what? Were you planning on having Jason go through Dad's laptop for directions? He couldn't even get passed the password screen." She smiled more widely. "Now, I'm not saying my brother isn't very intelligent, because that would be a lie, but he's just not conniving enough to think like Dad."

"My little corporate tyrant," Rachel smirked, receiving a kiss from Thalia.

"Hot," Grover said. "But, we had to do…something…I can't really remember—Percy, right!" He said as if the whole thing had almost slipped his mind.

"Seriously?" Rachel asked.

"What? He would forgive me if he knew you two were making-out in front of me,"

"We didn't make-out, it was just a little kiss," Thalia replied.

"That's making-out to them," Rachel told her. "If he actually saw us making-out he would die of an aneurysm,"

"Don't you have to have a brain to have an aneurysm?" Grover was not a fan of the little back and forth that Thalia and Rachel had begun; he opened his mouth to say just that.

"Oh, he's got a brain, it's just in the wrong head," Rachel finished before Grover could comment. Oh, they were sharp tongued alright. Before he could defend himself Nico cleared his throat and all eyes turned to him. Nico looked like a soldier suddenly, his angry brooding had been sharpened to the point of becoming deadly and he turned that look on all of them. Grover's breath hitched, even Rachel swallowed down saliva to wet her suddenly dry throat.

"Are we really going to do this, or are you yanking my chain, Grover?" He asked seriously. Grover suddenly became somber, his joking a back-up mechanism to hide his pain. He nodded solemnly.

"Tonight," He said.

"And the others already know about it?" Again Grover nodded. "Alright, then I'm going to get some rest. Wake me up twenty minutes before you want to go, I want to be as alert as I can be." They all saw how very tired Nico looked, his fatigue sat just underneath fury and sadness. It boggled Grover's mind that someone could feel so many things at once and have them all openly displayed on their face in some aspect. He put a hand on Nico's shoulder.

"I meant what I said," He told him. "you're a brother to me now, too, Nico." Minutely the younger teen smiled again.

"Thank you," He said. "I feel the same way,"

"Now give each other a little kiss," Thalia grinned. Grover looked up at her askance and she just laughed.

"One," He said, "bros never cross swords,"

"Meaning you're not supposed to have sex with someone your "bro" has had sex with," Rachel enlightened the room.

"Yeah, and two, as much as I love Nico I've got Juniper, that's the only lady I need." He grinned when the Italian teen struck his arm. He rubbed at the angry looking red mark those small fists left behind, "Ow, you do secretly work out don't you? You don't have to lie,"

"After all this is over," Nico said decidedly. "You and Percy are not allowed to Skype each other anymore; all these vicious rumors are bad for my image." There was an easy laugh shared amongst them, then Grover showed him how to clasp hands in his and Percy's patented handshake and the taller teen left, the two young ladies in tow, one walking and one hobbling.


	38. Chapter 38

Maybe it was a contest of wills. The staring, that is. Oceanic eyes meeting glaceous ones, between those two stares was a rend of space. The air inbetween them was animalistic, if one were to stand and be met by those two gazes from the near twin brothers then that person would have found breathing near impossible from the pure weightiness of their rivaling. Between them was dead space, one so devoid of any goodness it was sure to be the birthplace of some sort of hellspawn.

Then Triton blinked, "I'm still not sure about this," He said. "Dad would be pissed,"

"If we're leaving tomorrow then it would be the perfect opportunity to sneak away," Percy said. "You don't have to stay, none of you do. You can come with me, you don't ever have to try to please him again." That caused Triton to smile; it was a genuine, unhindered smile. The smile of a man who walked the torturous line hatred and spite for the love of someone who would never see him as anything but a burden and Percy saw it in its entirety and he almost felt sorry for his half-brother. Almost. Triton could never excuse any of his actions, he would never blame his father for anything he did, and he would continue to do horrible things because it's just how he was programmed now. He had no control over it anymore, he was just barely suppressing the urge to beat Percy's face in.

"You still don't get it, Percy," Triton said. "I don't want to leave his side on the off chance that one day he might need me. He can beat me, and berate me, call me every name in the book and I'll bare it. I'll bare it all if that means he'll call himself my father." His smile became morose. "I _need_ his approval."

"But you'll get me out of here?" Percy asked.

"You're not good for us," Triton replied. "I'm doing this for Dad's own good. When you're not around anymore he'll start thinking clearly again. When you're gone he'll be himself again and we can go to games together again and go out for women, like we used to." His eyes sparkled with a terrifying undying loyalty. Percy seriously almost felt sorry for him now, but he squelched his sympathy. This _was_ still Triton, the same bastard that had been plaguing him for almost a year now to break up with Nico.

"And the others?" Percy continued, "what about the other kids?"

"What about them?" Triton retorted. "When you're gone they'll just go home for Christmas and Dad'll stop by their houses and drop off their presents, I might even persuade him to drop one off for you," It looked doubtful on his face, but he managed to sound sincere. "I want you gone."

"Then let's go," Percy said.

"We can't," Triton looked around as if the walls themselves were listening in on their conversation. "He's going out later tonight, that's when we'll do it,"

Percy sighed, he could sit and wait a few more hours for that at least. He looked Triton over, the young man was haggard, almost as sickly looking as Poseidon had become. Nothing on his face betrayed any sort of guilt or ill feeling towards what he had done. But, Percy wouldn't push the issue; he had just barely convinced Triton that their father would see him in a better light if he got rid of the thing that was causing that man so much trouble as of late. By get rid of he had quickly had to explain not to kill but to help escape. "Then I guess you should get back to everyone before they start getting suspicious, you don't like me, remember?"

His brother sneered, "How could I forget?" As easily as that hurt had been portrayed on his face it was doubly so replaced by a quick, although lackluster, anger. Triton went to the door and opened it then he stepped into the hallway and without even so much as looking back he was off. Percy watched him go, then he sat against bed. His entire body wasn't throbbing today. It was only his ribs and his leg really. Everything else, while not hunky-doory, was relatively functioning in the way one would expect out of a car crash victim. It wasn't a pain Percy wanted to live with, it was a deadening ache really, but he could bare it just a little longer. He looked up at the door again and standing there was Anataneus, or Tanner as he had so renownly named himself.

"Perseus," He came into the room. Anataneus had the same eyes as their father, cold, calculating eyes that could strip paint off the walls. But, unlike their father Tanner's eyes were touched by kindness and humanity, if only just barely it was more than enough.

"Percy, Tanner," Percy corrected, managing a smile. This home might have been more welcoming and warm under different circumstances, Percy thought. He and his brothers might have all gotten along the proper way instead of being thrown together at the last minute and almost forced to bond.

"Perseus," Tanner said again in a way reminiscent of Poseidon. "I want you to know that I don't hate you." That amused Percy.

"Well, that's good," He almost laughed. "I don't hate you either, I don't have a reason to,"

"After everything we've put you through I think you have more than enough reason to at least dislike some of us," Tanner replied, looking away. "I'll admit that when father informed me of your…sexuality, we'll call it, I was at once disgusted." Percy heard his words and how well articulated they were. He wondered what kind of schooling Tanner had received. It, then, occurred to him that he knew so little about any of his brothers. Even Odysseus, wherever he was, who he was closest to. "I tried to explain it to Moses, but he just couldn't see anything wrong with it. I told Odie it was wrong, but he too just did not understand. Tyson doesn't have the capability to know what I'm talking about and Tony and father immensely hated the idea of you being…the way you are."

"Bi, I guess," Percy shrugged.

"Be that as it may," He wondered what kind of thirteen year old started sentences with "be that as it may" and just shook his head with a small smile. "I am—was—wrong. There's nothing wrong with you, Percy. I've been wracking my brains trying to find something to dislike about you other than the fact that you've got a boyfriend. I couldn't find anything. You're so…" He looked as if words failed him, which Percy thought was funny considering the conversation so far. "Cool." Tanner finished, looking unsatisfied with his verbiage. "Moreover," Ah, there was the Tanner he was starting to get to know. "The thought that Dad wants nothing more than to change the fact that you're," He swallowed, "that you're being intimate with that other guy—"

"Nico," Percy said his name, he said that name as if it were the most important name to be uttered since the stream of time had begun to flow. "His name is Nico."

"Yes, the fact that Dad's only hates your love for Nico and nothing else about you, and then went to these lengths just to separate you, I'm beginning to fear for his sanity." Anataneus closed his eyes. "It's hard to deal with." He finally said after a few moments of silence, he sounded every bit the part of a thirteen year old then, unsure and a bit afraid. "I just want him to be okay,"

"Even the with the way he treats you and everybody else?" Percy asked, almost disbelieving how much fealty Poseidon had from his other sons. It was no wonder he blew a gasket when Percy hadn't just kneeled at his feet from the thought of getting attention from him. He was used to unquestioning and absolute loyalty. Percy must have been a vexation more festering than a terminal disease in his mind. He was not bacteria or germs but he was a dis-ease all same to his father. Percy figured that Poseidon might have wanted to say jump and for Percy to ask how high.

"He just does that cause that's how Grandpa raised him," Tanner said. Percy wasn't going to say that the sins of the father were not the sins of the son, instead he said:

"Are you going to treat your children the way he treats us?" That question seemed to blindside Tanner. He stared at nothing for a few minutes, Percy could see the inquiry as if it were being turned in the well spoken young man's eyes.

Finally, "I hope not," He said decidedly. "I really, seriously hope not."

"Then don't," Percy said. "If I ever have kids I know I'm not going to treat them like Dad treats everyone else. I would never leave bruises on my children," Tanner's hand immediately went up to the side of his cheek and he looked away. "It's almost gone," Percy told him.

"I couldn't see it anymore, I didn't think you'd notice," The younger man, barely into his teens, replied. "It's what I get for talking back."

"No," Percy grabbed Tanner's arm. "No. You have an opinion, and that's more than okay. It's human. You don't have to think the same way he does, that's not something he can force you to do. Even if you were mouthing off, we're teenagers—that's what we do. You'll find that out the older you get. Teenagers yell and scream, we say tons of things we don't mean. One time I told my Stepdad that I hated him and that he wasn't my real father so he couldn't tell me what to do," Percy shook his head. "That was almost six years ago and I still regret it. But, it's a part of growing up. He didn't hit me for saying it, if anything he just looked really hurt himself. Thinking back he should have hit me," Percy smiled. "But that's not the kind of guy Paul is and now I'm so glad he's in my life."

Anataneus was quiet again, then he said, "I can see why Triton doesn't like you, too," But like the last time he had made a comment such as that there was no ill context in his words. It was just an observation. "Because he wishes Dad were more like that, and I think I do too." Percy realized why they tolerated the beatings and the harsh words. He knew it by the look on Tanner's face, the look that minutely touched each and every one of Poseidon's children's faces—perhaps even his own. Poseidon was the only true father they had, he had sired them and they felt eternally grateful for just that. Just the gift of life. Percy had never thought about it like that, but from that angle he could almost understand how on the outside he might look like the bad guy for scorning their father's wishes. From the outside looking in it was almost as if Percy had done everything that he had just to spite their father. "Are you coming downstairs? The others wanted to see you, but their afraid they're getting on your nerves. I came as a sort of…ambassador I guess."

Percy smiled, "I guess I can make it down there," He said good naturedly.

"Dad replaced the Playstation, but we're not supposed to even turn it on so all we can do is watch television since you're not allowed outside." Anataneus informed him.

"Psh, let me show you what we do when there aren't any games to play or nothing's on TV. You guys got any board games? Cards? You ever heard of a little game called poker? I think you'd be pretty good at it," For the first time since he had met the kid Tanner smiled genuinely, it was a smile that could be reflected in the face of every last individual under that roof and Percy felt the slightest bit less original for it, but he kept that to himself.

"I'm sure we can find some," He replied and they made their way down the steps with Percy leaning heavily on Tanner's shoulder. Later, as night fell Poseidon told them that he was going out and that he would be back. Percy looked for Triton, but he shook his head. _I can_ ' _t_ , he mouthed and left with their father. Percy tried not to let anger bubble under his skin, he tried to keep his head, but he simply couldn't. He shouted and ranted and raved that Poseidon let him go, but the man simply ignored him, closing the door behind his second oldest son.

That was it. Percy would never see his family or his friends again.

* * *

When the nighttime came and the adults had resigned themselves back to their rooms, Hades and Persephone sleeping in the guest room, Zeus and Hera having left for their hotel, that was the time Nico and the others began. With all the black they were wearing one might think that they were about to star in some cheesy espionage movie, black toboggans, black turtlenecks, black hoodies, black pants, black shoes, why Rachel even went the extra mile and had two black lines of mascara under her eyes, an imitation of warrior paint. Nico's heartbeat was surprisingly calm, _he_ was surprisingly calm. Grover wondered if it was that calm that happened in the eye of storms, that displacing near-pleasant nature that indicated something so much darker on the way.

"I want to go on record saying how against this I am," Juniper said, she was to be left behind to alert them if anyone woke up. "You guys don't know if this is dangerous or not, I'm pretty sure it is."

"Juni, we're in the Grovermobile nothing bad can happen," Grover grinned, alright, so maybe it was just his Mom's minivan, but he wasn't about to let a little fact like that make it lose its cool factor.

"Zeus said that there are people much better equipped for this situation about to handle it," Juniper protested still.

"About to handle it and actually handling are two very different things," Rachel told her. "While they're still doing paperwork and getting permission _we_ ' _re_ going to be actually doing something." Jason and Leo nodded.

"We'll be okay," Leo said, and Jason took his hand.

"I still don't like it. Poseidon will know exactly where Percy is when he finds out he's not there, how will you guys even get in?"

"Locks can't really stop me, if that's what you mean," Thalia grinned, it was a shadow of their father's. "I've never had a problem with them."

"Tell me about it, I remember when you used to torture me when I was little by pretending to be the Boogieman. I'd lock my door and then, click, like magic it would pop open." Jason shook his head.

"You're stronger for it," Thalia laughed.

"We should get going," Nico said and they all nodded, going to the door they passed the couches and the sound of someone who was supposed to be sleeping but wasn't alerted them. Odysseus stared at them from the loveseat that pulled out into a bed. He had started sleeping on it since Nico had taken Percy's room so entirely and since the guest room was occupied.

"What's going on?" He asked, rubbing his eyes. "Why're you guys dressed like that?" Juniper flashed them all a dark look and then sighed, going over to the bed. She sat down on it and pulled Odie up to her, patting his head. She really couldn't believe he was eleven, he looked and acted so much younger.

"They're going out for a little while," She told him. "Everyone'll be back,"

"Why aren't you going?" He asked her.

"Because someone has to stay here and make sure you get back to sleep," She said and she flashed him a motherly grin, Odysseus' cheeks tinged a dark rouge suddenly and he looked away from her, he looked embarrassed.

"Why does my brother have to have such pretty friends?" He asked, though it was supposed to be a whisper. Juniper laughed to herself and she stood.

"Go back to sleep, Odie, in the morning there'll be a surprise for you," She looked over her shoulder at the departing group of teenagers who were quietly sneaking out of the door. Odysseus climbed back under the sheets and Juniper began to hum. It was a song her own mother had sung for her when she was smaller, it didn't really have words, but just a soft melody. She stroked Odysseus' face and watched him fall asleep again as she heard Grover's car pulling off. She sighed, at times she had felt the least outgoing of their ever expanding group. At times she felt like the "drag" or the most level-headed. She was the person who stopped them from doing dangerous things, like jumping off of bluff or racing Percy's Sonata against Grover's mother's Caravan. She knew she dampened their fun, but she felt like it was for their own safety. Juniper would never be able to live with herself if the one time she let them do something so abhorrently dangerous that she was having trouble breathing and they got hurt. She just wouldn't.

"Juniper?" She looked up, the sound interrupted her humming. Sally was standing in the darkness, her face lit up by the burning cherry tip of a cigarette. "What're you doing still up?"

"Odie woke up," She said. "I was just singing him back to sleep," At least she hadn't lied yet. This was the reason they had left her here. Sally gave her a small smile.

"I don't see how you're all even comfortable in Percy's room, there's more than enough couches and air mattresses for everyone." Juniper looked away, she didn't say anything. "You have a very pretty voice," Sally said.

"Thank you," Juniper replied, her voice just barely above a whisper. She opened her mouth as if she were about to try to keep the conversation going but there was a knock on the door. _Oh no_! she thought, someone had forgotten something. Her heart began pounding in her chest as Sally said, "Who could that be?" and went over to the door, snuffing her cigarette out a low table as she went. The knob twisted and Juniper knew they were caught, all of them. She had double-checked that they had everything, but whatever it had been it must've been important.

"Sally, don't you look as beautiful as ever?" But, that deep voice wasn't anyone's she knew. Juniper looked up to see the big, foreboding figure of an attractive man with hair that was slightly graying, adding a dignified sort of handsomeness to his already heartbreaking face. His smile was easy and in the moonlight he looked as serene as a priest sitting before the cross. There was a young man beside him and Juniper's heart leapt again, he had brought Percy. Upon further inspection, however, she realized it wasn't Percy but he looked incredibly similar.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Sally asked, there was an almost murderous tone to her voice that Juniper had never heard before. "Where the fuck is my son?"

" _Our_ son," Poseidon said, "is spending some time with his brothers, something that he has not had the previous chance to do, he's enjoying himself."

"No way in Hell," Sally scoffed, which caused Poseidon to chuckle, he touched her cheek and she swatted his hand away.

"I always did love that fire," He smirked, calm, cool, and more collected than Triton had seen him in days, let alone the past few hours. He was a different man in front of Sally. "Do you remember it, Sally? How we would make furious, passionate love under the stars on a cold Winter night like tonight? You, me, and a bottle of port to warm our otherwise freezing bodies, I remember it like it was yesterday,"

"What do you want?" She stepped away from him as he reached out again. "Don't touch me, bastard." The cordiality in Poseidon's eyes was quick to fizzle out, he flickered his vision from her to Juniper who was standing a ways behind her. With his elbow he tapped Triton who also looked at the girl.

"She'd be nice," Triton said with a smile, though it faltered when his father looked away.

"Or," Poseidon said. "My other son, where is Odysseus?"

"How the hell should I know? Go check one of your whore's houses," Sally spat.

"I am," Poseidon said, pushing past her, his son standing at the door looking as if he were torn between following or not. Instead he just stayed where he was.

"You can't fucking come in here," Sally grabbed his shirt. "Get out."

"Not till I get what I came for, Odysseus get your ass out here." Juniper looked over her shoulder, the boy was wide awake. His blue eyes shook, threatening tears. He sat up but she put a hand on him and shook her head no. "Odysseus!" Poseidon shouted.

"Oh, what the actual fuck?" They turned, Hades was standing at the portal between the living room and the rest of the house, he was shirtless with a pair of pajama bottoms on. "Did I not tell you to stay away?"

"I concur," Paul said, he looked different without his glasses Juniper thought. More rugged, more intimidating. "But since you're here, mind telling me where my son is?"

"If you've got a brat running around somewhere I'll be sure to be on the lookout for him," Poseidon said, ignoring Hades. "But, I'm here for mine first." He saw Juniper standing obtrusively in front of a bed, but she wasn't dressed for sleep he observed. "Move, girl," He said pushing her out of the way, when she fell she felt herself fall against Hades who righted her and moved past her, grabbing Poseidon's shoulder.

"I think it's best if you leave," He said.

"I do as well," Poseidon smiled picking Odysseus up by the arm. "Let's go, boys." But Hades didn't relinquish him.

"Without the kid," He said.

"Now, see, why would I come all this way just to leave without one of my favorite sons?" The tall man gave a large, misplaced grin. He looked wholly bothered by the entire situation. He was outnumbered by Hades and Paul—who he didn't suspect would be much of a threat, but Hades fists hurt—and that wasn't good for him.

"Because if you don't I'll bloody your nose again, dumbass," Hades said darkly. "Let go of him,"

"Legally I'm his guardian; you can't do a damn thing—"

"Legality be damned, you motherfucker," Surprisingly it was Paul who gripped Poseidon's wrist, wrenching it behind his back and simultaneously making him let go of Odysseus. Poseidon didn't cry out, but his face betrayed how much pain he was feeling. The normally bespectacled man walked him to the door and shoved him, making him stumble and then fall off of the landing hard on his ass. "Don't let me catch you around here again unless you're bringing Percy back, and then I want you to throw yourself in prison for the rest of your life," Resolutely he slammed the door closed.

"Not bad," Hades smirked.

"Yes, well, I was a nerdy kid. Had to learn self-defense or people would have pushed me around," Paul shrugged lackadaisically, as if it weren't that big a deal.

"Juniper," Sally looked at the dark haired girl who was holding Odysseus against her comfortingly. "Where's Grover's van?"

* * *

"How the hell did you convince me to let you drive?" Grover was asking, sitting in the back behind the driver's seat. Rachel was speeding, she wasn't just speeding Rachel was recklessly speeding. She had already outrun a police car, one who didn't even catch her the licenses plate number.

"Because I'm an amazing driver," Rachel smirked, not fazed by their speed.

"Take this right," Thalia said from the front seat, she too seemed unperturbed by their velocity. Rachel took it and Grover swore the car almost tipped over onto two wheels. The tires squealed, leaving a thick back trail behind them. "We should be getting there soon,"

"I'm going to be sick," Jason called from the wayback, the seat behind the backseat.

"I'm pretty impressed she's getting this kind of speed," Leo decided. "Considering how old this thing, she's got to be doing at least ninety." The minivan shivered as if to agree with that point. "You're pretty good," He said.

"Tell me something I don't know, Leo, sweetie," Rachel grinned widely. "Where to, Thals?"

"That next subdivision," Thalia said as Rachel swung rapidly into that specific subdivision. "The map says it's that house," Thalia pointed at a rather nice house just down the road, it was large and had at least nine bedroom windows that they could see. The redheaded girl killed the motor as she pulled up into the driveway. "It says we should be here,"

"Alrighty then," Rachel opened her door. "You guys ready to kick some ass?"

"With your leg like that I don't think you'll be doing much kicking," Grover grinned, his stomach had finally fallen out of his throat thankfully with no help from Rachel's driving.

"I think it would be better if we just got Percy and got out," Nico said opening the sliding van door. They all piled out. "Anyone think it's strange that Poseidon's car isn't here? I know that one is Triton's," He pointed at the Chevy in the driveway

"He must've stepped out then," Thalia said clicking around on her PDA; she had downloaded Zeus' entire hard-drive onto it. "We should hurry, his car is on its way back here. I'd say if we're going to do this we've got about seven minutes,"

"He must have been right behind us," Nico said darkly.

"Either that or he's speeding faster than Rachel was," Jason said, looking green from the very thought.

"Well," Grover smiled and Rachel did as well.

"What're we waiting on?" She finished for him. Thalia put her PDA away and pulled out a bobby pin from her long, black hair as they walked up the steps to the door. She kneeled down to the keyhole and inserted the bobby pin. Grover watched with admitted jealousy as she tinkered around with the thing for a good thirty seconds, then reached into her back pocket and pulled out a card sliding it through where the door latched. She pushed it open with no protest, pulled the bobby pin out of the keyhole and quickly replaced it in her hair. "That was kinda hot," Rachel grinned.

"Yeah, I know," Thalia said. They entered.

Inside they were surprised, it didn't look like the house of a kleptomaniac, in fact, it looked like the house of a perfectly sane individual—overlooking the large, gaping hole in the wall beside the television. But, that wasn't what really surprised them. What surprised them was that one Percy Jackson was curled up on the couch with a toddler in his lap and four other kids sitting around him, two beside him on the couch and two at his feet. There was an older guy seated in the recliner but he didn't even look up when they came in, his eyes were trained on the movie they were watching, _How To Train Your Dragon_.

"Guys!" Percy said.

"Okay, you're entirely too comfortable for someone in mortal peril," Thalia told him.

"Can't you even try to be look a little more damsel in distress-ish?" Rachel agreed.

"Percy," Nico was the first one forward, throwing his arms around Percy and kissing him deeply. The boys gathered around their brother watched with open awe as Nico ferociously attacked Percy's mouth. Tears were suddenly streaking out of the young Italian boy's eyes and Percy hugged him close. "I thought I would never see you—"

"We don't really have the time for this," Thalia said loudly glancing at her PDA again. "Save it for when we get back. Posedion'll be here in like a minute and a half."

"Grover," Percy said as Grover and Jason came over and hoisted him up, he put an arm around both of their strong shoulders. "You drive the Grovermobile?"

"I didn't drive it personally, but it's out there," Grover nodded.

"Guys, come with me." He said to his brothers. "We'll all get away from Dad." Dadaelus stood, Orpheus stood and even Morpheus got up, but Anataneus only smiled, and all Tyson could really do was smile, so instead he watched Hiccup fasten a wooden tail onto Toothless and laughed.

"You guys go on," He said. "I'll explain to Dad what happened, he's sure to be upset."

"Tanner—"

"Go Percy," Anataneus grinned and Percy saw that he was not very used to smiling, it's what set their grins apart. He pushed his siblings towards Percy. "Just go, me and Ty'll be okay. Someone's got to watch over him." Percy stared for a few seconds, seconds he knew he didn't have. He could feel time ticking away and he nodded.

"You're going to be a great man one day, Tanner."

"And you're already a great man, Percy," Anataneus chuckled. "Nico," He extended his hand and Nico took it, though he didn't know this kid. "It was nice to have finally met you."

"You too," Nico replied, unsurely. Then they all turned and closed the door behind them, gathering into the van tightly. Rachel turned the engine over and back out of the driveway, pulling into the one behind it and idled the car.

"What're you doing?" Jason asked, she shushed him.

"It would look weird if Poseidon saw a car leaving his house," She said, "I'm going to wait for him to go inside then I'm going to pull away." Before anyone could say anything a sleek car pulled into the driveway they had just been in. Poseidon and Triton stepped out of the car and slowly made their way to the door. The older man was verbally assaulting the younger one, Nico held tightly to Percy's hand as they watched him swing and land a blow to the side of Triton's shoulder. The young man gripped it tightly but made no move to defend himself. Poseidon shook his head and unlocked the door opening it and stepping inside. It was at that exact moment that Grover's mother's minivan came to life. Rachel gunned the engine and sped down the street leaving a thick black trail of burnt rubber behind.


	39. Chapter 39

Sally Blofis, formerly Jackson, sat at the doorframe of her home. Her normally warm brown eyes were ice slicked daggers as she watched Grover's minivan ease into its old parking spot. The kids, she thought to herself, must have figured they were quite smart. The van was obviously in neutral as Jason, Leo, Grover and Nico pushed it quietly. She watched, almost mildly amused, and then she let her mothering face fall into a scornful and reprimanding mask. Sally took a breath, ready to yell and scream, but she saw Grover helping Percy out of the van after they had silently parked it. She watched as her son looked up and smiled at her, his blue eyes glittering with a joy she couldn't even begin to fathom. He waved and the air she'd drawn in died in her throat.

Sally Blofis, formerly Jackson, frequently misspelled Blowfish, just stood with her arms crossed as she watched Jason and Grover half drag/half walk Percy to the door. There were, she realized, more kids with them than when they had left. All of them painfully similar to Poseidon. "Uh-oh," She heard Leo whisper even so far away.

"Sally's cool, don't worry," Rachel said quietly, but their voices carried over the silent and frozen front yard. She couldn't help it; she broke out into a grin so large it trembled on her lips. She was angry. Oh, hell, she was pissed, but seeing her son—hers and Paul's—almost made her forgot about how dangerous what they had just done was. How _stupid_ they had all been. It was set in her mind to start preaching the moment they got close, but then they just walked by her without a word.

"Hi, Mom, miss me?" Almost all without a word, Percy was the only one brave enough to meet Sally's openly awed and yet contrastingly angry glare. Miss me, he said. Miss me. " _Miss me_ ," As if he had been away on vacation. Sally just scoffed, shaking her head she let her auburn hair toss about her shoulders.

"Perseus Jackson…" She started; her words were a mix of anger, delight, and disbelief.

"I'm grounded," Percy decided from her tone. "Dad kidnaps me and I get grounded for it, just my luck," Sally bit her lip. Tears brimmed out of her eyes and she just shook her head again, more of her hair widely arrayed around her as she did. Then, she threw her arms around Percy.

"You'll be grounded till you're seventy-five if anything like that ever happens again," She squeezed him and her son let out a cry of pain.

"Car crash!" Percy hissed, reminding her that he was broken and bruised. She apologized and let go of him then she turned her deadly gaze on each and every last teenager that had been obstinate enough to pull the stunt they had just somehow accomplished unscathed.

"I don't even think there's a punishment big enough…" She began, shaking her head.

"Hey," Thalia said. "We got Percy back, that's all that matters,"

"Well, we got Percy and a few look-a-likes," Rachel grinned, Morpheus and Daedalus had the courtesy to blush, Orpheus however being the youngest only smiled, grabbing onto Thalia's hand. The girl picked him up easily setting him on her hip.

"We have a lot to talk about, it would seem," Hades stood in the shadows, if he hadn't opened his glowering eyes no one would have been able to see him.

"I expected this kind of thing of your brother, Thalia," Zeus said from the couch that Odysseus wasn't sleeping on. "But you?"

"Who knew, right?" Thalia laughed putting her other arm around Jason's shoulders. "Guess we're more like each other than you give us credit for."

"Shouldn't you be cringing in fear from that statement?" Jason asked, but his sister just laughed.

"Nico di Angelo, of all the reckless, self-absorbed, brash, idiotic, and just plain dumb things that you could have done," Hades stalked forward, his face set in apathy colder than the freezing snow outside. Nico's heart suddenly leapt out of his chest, the thought of being caught by Poseidon was nowhere near as scary as his father. Then Hades smiled, "You're just like your old man, damn it," He chuckled. "But," The smile slipped off his face as he turned to Percy. "Jackson, you're going to have to work like hell to get back on my good side,"

"Why is everyone blaming me for what happened?" Percy exclaimed, then he blinked. "Wait? I was on your good side at one point in time?" Hades turned on his heel and walked back into the living part of the house without answering that. "He liked me at one point?"

"Focus, Perseus," Nico said planting his lips on Percy's mouth. He put his arms around the injured teen's neck deepening the kiss immediately.

"Whoa!" Grover unshouldered Percy stepping away, Jason would have done the same if not for the fact that Nico couldn't support Percy's weight on his own. Then the kiss became a groping display of love unbridled that was probably unsafe for most of the younger children's eyes. Thalia covered Morpheus' and Juniper covered Odysseus'.

"Nico," Jason said as he didn't struggle to hold Percy up but instead struggled not to become part of the groping fest, hands were flying almost pulling him into it, "maybe you could wait till I set him down?" Nico stepped back, his face flushed. The dark teen licked his lips and nodded, he looked as if he wanted to absorb Percy into himself. It would, Nico thought, insure that Percy was never taken away from him again. Jason just laughed, "I can understand your impatience,"

"Percy," Sally said as Jason sat him down on the couch Zeus was on. "You realize your father won't be happy about this?" The feeling of triumph diminished instantly as she said that. They had all almost forgotten about Poseidon's vengeful and wrathful spirit. He would be on them like a wave crashing against the side of a cliff face.

"I know," Percy replied, suddenly very serious. "He'll be after all of us," He looked at his brothers.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Zeus stood. "If you would have waited I told you I had people on it," He opened his phone as if it had wrung, "Do it,"

"Do it?" Thalia asked her father. "Do what? What did you just do?"

"I took care of it," Zeus grinned.

"Dad! There are kids in there, I don't know what "it" is but you better make sure they don't get hurt!" The skunk streaked girl scolded him. Zeus looked as if he wasn't used to being told what to do, because he truly wasn't, but Thalia held a special place in his heart. He held the phone up to his ear again,

"Make sure it's nonlethal."

"You were going to kill him?" Jason asked.

"You can have people killed?" Leo inquired, impressed.

"Don't encourage him," Thalia glared at the young man. "Dad, you can't just have people killed." Their father looked as if he were on the verge of protest; then he just rolled his eyes.

"Wait to take the fun out of it…"

"So you can have _anyone_ killed?" Leo asked dangerously inquisitive, Thalia leveled him with a glare. "What? I'm just curious,"

"Dad's not going to have anyone killed, what if we had still been there?"

"Those men are under instruction only to fire on Poseidon, the kids would have been fine," He looked at the children that had come along with his son and the others. They looked none too impressed with him, "What? Your old man's the bad guy, not me."

"I think," Morpheus said, "that's your opinion."

"Bad guy or not," Daedalus continued, "I can't believe you were going to kill our Dad."

"He'll be fine," Zeus said, "ah, you'll understand when you get older."

"Dad," Thalia crossed her arms. "apologize,"

"But—"

"Dad…" She warned. Zeus sighed heavily.

"I'm sorry I paid to have your father killed," He looked at her, "Happy?"

"Now promise me you'll help get everyone's lives back in order, including Poseidon's children," Her father looked befuddled, he _really_ wasn't used to people telling him what to do.

"Fine," He rolled his eyes. "I'll set up a relief fund or something, this _has_ been a disastrous couple of days,"

"Hey, uh, guys?" Percy asked from the couch. "I'm just going to close my eyes for a few minutes, okay?"

"He can sleep beside me," Odysseus said scooting over on the bed. Jason helped Percy down onto the pull out mattress where he almost instantly fell asleep. Surprisingly Morpheus, Daedalus, and Orpheus all climbed onto the bed as well.

"Sorry for inconveniencing you," Morpheus said to Sally, whose face fell. She sighed and went over to him patting him on the head like she might do for Percy. He closed his eyes under her touch as if he were afraid she might strike him. She observed that.

"You're no inconvenience," She said softly. "I just wish that if I had met any of you it would have been under better circumstances," She stood to her full height and yawned. "Get some sleep, okay? All of you," Nico stared down at the pull out couch, there was definitely no room for him to squeeze in between Odie and Percy, or between Percy and Orpheus who separated his boyfriend from Moses.

"You'll just have to bunk with us tonight, bro," Grover said clapping Nico on the shoulder.

"Percy's mine…" Nico whispered under his breath causing Grover to laugh.

"Don't be greedy, Neeks,"

Nico looked at Grover, "You wouldn't say that if it was your girlfriend,"

"Really?" The dark-skinned young man asked. "Between her sisters, her sisters' friends and the "friends" her parents preferred she kept around Juni and I don't actually get to share the same bed very often," He said, "Or, if we do there's at least one other person in it, when we're here at least."

Sighing the young Italian finally gave in, "I suppose I can put up with it, for tonight. I was just scared for his life, but whatever,"

"I'm sure they'll thank you," Grover grinned as Juniper and Sally pulled more blankets up around the now sleeping boys, they—everyone—had gone through a lot. Everyone was tired.

"You get some sleep too, Sally," Zeus said as he pulled his jacket on, "I have to get back before Hera thinks I'm out doing something I shouldn't be,"

"Are you sure you won't spend the night? It's late to be driving," Sally returned. Zeus shook his head with a smile.

"Living the kind of life I do I find sleep is a luxury I don't always get the chance to partake in, I'll be awake for a few more hours, the world may need rest but business never takes a break,"

"A cup of coffee then?" Sally asked.

"I'll be fine, thank you," He grinned, then extending his hand to his daughter they shook. "Goodnight," He said to her almost distantly. Thalia rolled her eyes and put her arms around her father's neck, hugging him tightly.

"Goodnight, Dad," She laughed softly. "Drive safe,"

"I always do," He grinned a crinkle-eyed smile, then he turned to Jason. "I suppose you'll want a hug too?"

"You know it, old man," Jason said, returning his father's smile. Theirs was a more masculine embrace, arms tight, bodies held together no longer than five seconds, but it was a hug all the same. "Try, uh…try to come see us again sometime, okay?" Zeus looked at his son who averted his eyes. The older man ruffled Jason's blond locks and held him close again, this time just a few seconds longer.

"I'll make sure to do that, champ,"

"So you can really have _anyone_ killed? Who are you?" Leo asked for the third time, Zeus shook his hand and laughed.

"Guess I'm your boyfriend's Dad," Zeus replied, then he walked out of the door and drove back to his hotel. Sally closed the door behind him.

"Bed," She said looking very tired. "Goodnight, all,"

* * *

Tyson was crying, he was the one that Poseidon never struck. Under any circumstance. But, tonight Poseidon was especially violent. He wasn't striking Tyson but he was doing something almost just as bad for someone with the special young man's mental condition. "Fuck!" Poseidon yelled screaming at his three remaining children. "Idiots all of you!" Triton's face was bloody, the red life's liquid gushed from his nose. It was broken. "You knew he was leaving! You knew!" Poseidon's hands were covered in Triton's blood.

"I didn't," Triton said, tears of pain streaking and mixing with his blood. "I swear I didn't!"

"And you," He turned on Anataneus, "You let him go! How could you let all of them go?" The young man was seated where he had been, his eyes staring at Poseidon with unabashed apathy.

"I'm not scared of you, not anymore," He said easily, almost as if it were true. "Percy says I don't have to be like you when I get older. I won't ever hit my children—" His father's stained fingers backhanded him, hard. "You're a horrible father,"

"Daddy…" Tyson cried harder, Poseidon turned his eyes on him; eyes that showed just how far the man had fallen. They were crazed, small beady things that vibrated in his skull.

"I have lost everything," He whispered, voice shaking. "Everything!" This time he shouted. "You boys were all I ever really had, you're my lineage, my predecessors, why do you all want to fuck that up!" Again he slapped Anataneus, swinging at Triton who dodged the blow. Poseidon staggered knocking over Tyson onto the ground. "Shit, Tony, do you see what you made me do?" He said. "Shh, Tyson, get up," But Tyson didn't get up, he merely sobbed in his child-like fashion. "Get up you fucking imbecile!"

Triton saw red; it wasn't the red of his blood, but an anger so furious it was visible. He cracked his knuckles across Poseidon's face causing his father to collapse backwards. Triton wasn't a good person, he had no right to ever claim to have intentions that were good or pure. But, Tyson was his closest brother, someone he had always looked out for. If he felt anything, anything at all, it was for his older brother and no one, not even their Dad, was allowed to talk to him that way. "Stay down you piece of shit!" Triton screamed standing between Tanner and Tyson and their father as a sort of barrier. Poseidon grabbed his jaw; he moved it back and forth checking to see if it were broken. Getting to his feet he smiled.

"You shouldn't have done that, Tony," He said with a grin. "Oh, for fuck's sake boy I thought you were smarter than that," Poseidon loomed over his remaining children. He had only ever wanted them to succeed, albeit his way and not their own. Poseidon lived vicariously through his kids, or he would have if they had just stayed under his thumb a little longer. Raising his arm to strike the impudent boy Poseidon was very surprised to find something sticking out of it. It was a dart of some sort. He felt three more bee like stings in the upper part of his back. "What…the…hell…?" His vision became blurry and he stumbled.

The front door behind him exploded from some unseen force, then the force made itself quite known. A small militia of armed men burst into his home spilling forward like ants out of a broken anthill. "Down on the ground!" One of them shouted, Poseidon couldn't remember how to get down on the ground though as something nasty was working its way through his system. More darts impacted him in the chest as he turned on the men, their needle-noses like the business end of a stinger. Poseidon, a well built and in shape man, swayed then he tumbled forward like the Giant in Jack's Beanstalk. He hit the ground with no means to stop himself.

Triton shushed Tyson quietly while Tanner just stared as the men hauled their father away. Suddenly the house was empty except for the three young men. For the moment Tanner was detached from the world, but in time he would be better. No one said a word, the front door was in shambles and they were tired. Tanner stood with little motivation and walked to the stairs, without so much as a goodnight he walked to his room, plopped into his bed and fell asleep. Meanwhile, Triton laid Tyson down and made his way back into the living room. What the fuck had just happened?

He shook his head, a chill of cold poured into the house from the open portal. There was, he realized, a day till Christmas. What a holly, jolly fucking Christmas it was going to be this year. When the sun came up he would have to call Tanner's mother and have her come pick her son up, then he would have to send Tyson home and locate his father, wherever the hell he had just been taken. Triton just continued to shake his head, it was all he could do. What had just happened before his very eyes had been like a dream, so quick and unreal. Fey.

Triton closed his eyes, what was he going to do if he couldn't find his old man? He had spent his entire life trying to impress him, now what could he do? He could go back to school like he had been attending before all this Percy nonsense had begun, but a part of him felt like that wasn't going to happen. Triton wasn't the kind of guy who got a happy ending; he was, upon further thought, the antagonist. He laid his head back in the recliner he was now seated and slowly slipped into an uneasy sleep. Tomorrow wouldn't be any better than today had been just because the biggest foe he would ever face had somehow been dragged away for him. With that thought Triton went unconscious for a few hours.

* * *

When Poseidon woke he found himself in a dark room, there was a flickering and faltering light somewhere above him. Poseidon's head ached from the effects of whatever had been in those bee-sting darts that had hit him. He found, upon further inspection, that his hands were bound behind his back in metal cuffs, as were his legs. He was seated in a chair in front of a wooden table but the rest of the room around him fell away to darkness, only being illuminated a bit more when the light above shudder the barest bit brighter. "Poseidon Jackson," Something flopped down in front of him on that wooden table; he stared down hard at whatever it was trying to focus his bleary eyes. It was a manila folder with his name on the side of it, a portfolio of every illegal thing he had ever done, "you're into some pretty deep shit, did you know that?" He searched the darkness for that voice, it was maddeningly familiar.

A stark face came into view as it sat across from him, the face of someone like him, someone with nearly infinite amounts of money. It was the face of a movie star, perhaps from old Hollywood with the likes of Fred Astaire or maybe Charlie Chaplin. This man, unlike those two, had a thick black beard with a streak of white in the shape of lightning down the middle. "Zeus," He spat drunkenly from whatever had been in those darts.

"Poseidon," Zeus greeted almost cordially. "You know my friend, Mr. di Angelo,"

"Hi," The voice was in his ear behind him, he would have turned to look but the way he was strapped down to the chair it was impossible. "Paul, regrettably, couldn't make it as he had to take his son and his son's brothers back to the hospital because some piece of shit wasn't taking care of them properly." Hades' knuckles cracked. "But I've assured him that I'd get a swing or two in for him,"

"What're you going to do with me?" Poseidon asked, "beat me?" He laughed, though his head was pounding. "You think that the legal system'll let you do this? Do you know who I am?"

"Oh, see, that's my line," Zeus grinned, the hollows of his cheeks were shadowed in the dark room and a gleam of malcontent shimmered in his laughing blue eyes.

"You might not know me," Hades said. "But I'm about to make an impression,"

"You've got about five seconds to tell me why I shouldn't erase your name from history, make it look like you never technically existed so I can keep you down here till you rot." The streak-beared man said, suddenly fatally serious. Poseidon's eyes nearly bugged from his head, he saw there was no talking his way out of this, his silver tongue meant nothing to these two. There was nothing he could offer them, unless…

"You know I hear there's a camp," He said as his mind worked. "Takes the gay out of your kids, we could send the boys—" Hades' fist connected with the side of Poseidon's face, the sound of impact was shattering as it echoed around the room.

"Three seconds," Zeus said.

"It's my duty as a father!" Poseidon yelled. "I…I can't just let Percy do as he wishes, he needed structure, he needed someone with an iron will! Sally's too soft on him, that's why he's a faggot—" Again he was attacked by Hades.

"You know," The dark man said, finally coming around so that Poseidon could see him. His eyes were black as he glowered, coals that could singularly burn the pits of hell for eternity. "My kid is gay, and not from lack of me keeping him in line," He managed a horrific graveyard smile, the kind you only saw after midnight during a séance from some spectral being. "When he was a boy if he ever acted out I punished him, sometimes with a belt, sometimes with time-out—though admittedly that was more my wife's favored treatment—but I would always tell him why he was being punished," His malicious grin turned ugly, a frown that could make a parenthesis look like a straight line. "So, then, tell me: why is Percy being punished?"

"Because his love is unnatural," Poseidon growled. "It's unnatural and _wrong_ , surely you know that!" He looked between two of the most powerful men he had ever encountered besides himself. "Both of you!"

"I'll admit," Zeus replied, placatingly. "that when I heard that Jason was…of the homosexual nature I wasn't in the best of moods," His smile made up for Hades' frown, it was dazzling. He could have been on the silver screen with a smile like that. "But, I love my son. Fairy or not, I won't ever not love him. Who he loves isn't my decision,"

"Nico's mine," Hades continued, "Or Percy's yours,"

"You can't tell me how to raise my kids," Poseidon spat.

"What kids? All of your children have been or will be taken back into custody by their mothers, everyone who's mother is still alive at least," Zeus shook his head. "Where is Odysseus' mother?"

"Dead." Poseidon said as if it were of little consequence now. "I'm all he's got,"

"He's got a hell of a lot more than you, fucker," Hades growled. "All of those kids do! Now they can grow without your poison."

"I want to see my lawyer,"

"Lawyers are for people who matter," Zeus returned, still smiling as if he owned the world and the Heavens above. "You, on the other hand, will be presented before a good friend of mine, a judge. I've already worked out your sentence, but…I'm not completely heartless, I'll let him hear your side of the story." Zeus stood. "He's gay, by the bye. Just a little heads up," Poseidon looked lost for words, his eyes darted back and forth between the author and the business mogul. "Now, you might be wondering what's going to happen to you before you get there?" The dark haired father of eight didn't say anything. "Hades?"

"If you can take me down," Hades said going over to stand behind Poseidon. "beat me up like you beat up all those little boys, then you're free to go," The cuffs on his legs and then around his wrists.

"Those drugs in your system should be worked out by now, have fun," The next thing he knew Poseidon had been hoisted up by the collar of his shirt and he was standing. He threw a punch aimed for Hades' head but the man knocked it aside like a professional boxer and cold cocked him with a jab. Poseidon's head snapped back but before he could recover Hades was already working his body. Straight, straight, jab, elbow, right, left. He was a phantom, Poseidon couldn't tell where his next hit was coming from.

Launching himself forward at Hades he pushed the man against the wall and reared his fist back only for a knee to find its way into his abdomen. Staggering backwards the air exploded out of his lungs in one big " _Husssssss_ ," He coughed.

"Come on, you're not taking me serious are you?" Hades asked, leaping around on nimble feet. "Doesn't help that I was the all-state kickboxing champion of '89 and again in '97, but you could at least fight back," He sent a kick to connect with Poseidon's side effectively knocking him against the brick wall, pain blossomed up into his entire body.

"Motherfucker," Poseidon spat blood, he stood to his full height. He brought a right cross over Hades' left cheek sending the dark man back a few steps. "I don't give a shit! You're dead!" The Italian man grinned, a tint of red to his teeth from Poseidon's considerable punch.

"You'll have to do better than that if you want to kill me," Hades laughed standing erect, he held his fists up. "Let's try this again," They squared off, Hades landed more world rocking blows against Poseidon's ribs and stomach. Zeus watched in mild amusement, there was no way Poseidon was going to leave freely but Hades had concocted the silly plan as a way to get him to fight his hardest. Zeus would have even helped Hades beat Poseidon's ass if he weren't in such the position of power that he was in. What kind of world leader belittled himself to schoolyard brawls? He had people for that, not that Hades was one of those people, but the morbid man seemed to enjoy a nice fistfight every now and then. Poseidon was on the ground now battered and bruised as Hades silently finished him off, his knuckles hitting his victim hard in the face. "I think I broke one of his teeth," The man said getting off of the now unconscious Poseidon.

"How the mighty have fallen," Zeus grinned. "Just let me know if I ever get so haughty and presumptuous,"

"Oh, you're way past him," Hades replied wiping the blood off of him with a clean towel afforded by Zeus. "But, since you're a good man it gets balanced out," The business man's face became almost sympathetic.

"We all think we're the good men, Hades," He said looking at Poseidon's bloodied figure on the ground. "It's psychosomatic, the innate desire to be good. We, men in power, all think our actions will yield the best results. Some of us care about causalities, some of us don't," He shook his head, "The poor bastard, I really think he believed he was actually helping Percy, and all of his sons,"

"If that's what you call helping I'd hate to see what his idea of hurting them would be," Zeus clapped Hades on the shoulder.

"Now, back to your book. Have you ever thought about getting that turned into a movie?" Hades wiped his face of sweat and blood and smiled.

"Do you think you're the man to do that?" He asked.

"Who am I?" The streak-beared man grinned. "Zeus Grace, baby, I do it all."

"Then let's talk numbers," Hades said as Zeus knocked on the door in a pattern only he and a handful of others knew, it was opened and they walked out of the small holding cell on an island in the bay that Zeus just happened to own. However, its whereabouts were of the utmost secrecy. Men at arms stood ready and saluted both the men as they walked down a long, dimly lit corridor. Again Zeus knocked in his strange rat-ta-tat pattern on the next door which was opened almost immediately.

"Here you go," They came out into a small lobby, the receptionist smiled a beautiful grin as she handed Zeus a suit that looked as if it would fit Hades. Zeus smiled back at her appreciatively causing the twenty-something to blush furiously. Hades pretended not to see the exchange as he took the suit and quickly unbuttoned his own shirt that was covered in Poseidon's blood. Quickly he changed, tying his tie.

"You know, I like you, you and I get along, and you've got a pretty good business sense," Zeus grinned. "After we do your movie I'm pretty sure you should come into business with me,"

"I don't work for people," Hades replied as they continued outside where a helicopter waited, its whirring blades making conversation difficult.

"Who said anything about working _for_ me?" Zeus shouted over the loud whirly-bird as they climbed into his personal helicopter. "Partner?"

"I still get to write?" Hades asked, they took off into the air on Zeus' signal.

"Of course," He smiled holding his hand out, Hades took it and returned the grin.

"Partners, then," They shook and the most dangerous deal in history was made with that handshake, more dangerous than anything that had ever been recorded simply because Zeus Grace was already a man who got shit done, but Hades di Angelo was a man that punched first and asked questions later. It was the deal of the century.


	40. Chapter 40

It was two full months later, Percy and the others still were not exactly well after Poseidon's attack but they were recovering. The lot of teenagers had returned to school, as had all of Percy's brothers, and it seemed almost everyone was caught up on schoolwork. Almost everyone; Percy Jackson who was lying in bed in his dorm room with his eyes closed, just thinking. Bed rest left him a lot of time to think. They had been pardoned for Nico's little…tirade through the dorm for extenuating circumstances and luckily did not owe thousands of dollars in damage fees, though with Hades' steady flow of new cash it wouldn't have been a drop in the bucket for the di Angelo family. There was already speculative talk about Hades' new movie that would be coming out the following year. Johnny Depp was said to be up for the lead role, but Hades wouldn't divulge just who he had in mind to play which of his dark, brooding characters. Not even to Percy, who, after a month of bed rest had been almost welcome to reading his not-exactly father-in-law's book. He had liked it immensely.

Normalcy was rearing its head as the weeks dragged on, Percy's school load was slowly dwindling now that he was bored enough to actually sit down and read through the notes his professors had provided for him but he was still behind. Percy had been happy to hear that his brothers were doing well back home with their mothers. His own Mom was in the process of adopting Odysseus into their brood, there was a lot of red tape and she refused to let Zeus help her cut corners. Paul stopped by the dorm every free period he had to check on Percy, bringing him food or drinks or whatever else he figured his son needed and Percy was thankful for it because with Nico gone to class all day it was difficult getting around; he hated the crutches that were leaning against his bed but Nico wouldn't let him not use them. Plus, he enjoyed the company.

Jason Grace was across the hallway from him if Percy really needed anything, and the brunet was glad to hear that Leo would be coming to the university the following semester for automotive engineering. Knowing Leo Valdez, however, Percy figured that the young Latino teen would be teaching the professors more than his professors taught him. Grover and Juniper had gone back down to Florida for the rest of the year but it was imperative that Percy video call them _every_ night from henceforth.

Annabeth, who had spent the break with her mother, was mortified to learn that something so evil had happened and she had not been around to provide comfort to anyone. She had almost started crying before Percy had hugged her tightly and kissed her forehead telling her it was best she hadn't gotten involved. Nico had been, strangely, not jealous. He had watched the embrace and nothing even remotely envious had worked its way into his chest. Percy counted that testament to them having grown stronger in their relationship, he was sure that nothing could rattle the now ironclad foundation of their love.

As for his father, well, the last he had heard about Poseidon he was off at some nondescript prison that Percy had absolutely no intentions of visiting. Percy sighed to himself and tried to sleep, but there was no sleep left in him. He wasn't the kind of guy you could ask to sit still for such a long time, Percy needed to be active. And, speaking of activity the door to his dorm opened and then closed; Percy kept his eyes shut as he heard Nico set his backpack down then there was the tale-tell sound of his footsteps crossing the small room. Yup, it was Nico, Percy could tell by the smell of him. Nico was not one to wear cologne, plus Percy preferred it that way as he liked the boy's natural scent, deodorant was, however, still in effect. The boy leaned over him, fluffing his pillow and feeling his forehead; Percy poked an eye open. Nico was, as always, the most beautiful thing he had seen all day. Albeit, Percy had only seen the inside of his dorm and Ethan Nakamura who had stopped by for room checks, but still.

It felt like everything was going to be calm for a long while, unlike before where Nico had had the looming feeling that nothing was going to be alright. Absently he was checking on Percy before his next class since he had a thirty minute break. In that time he felt some lunch was in order and maybe a walk—hobble—around with his still slightly incapacitated boyfriend. He knew how sitting made Percy fidget and some fresh air would do him good. In the weeks to come, when Percy was up for it, they still had some photo shoots to do with Gilliam who had been quite forgiving when the entire situation was explained to him. Not to mention the fact that his father had invited Nico and Percy to view the casting call with him, and then there were his grandparents who were insisting that they come visit again. But, this time they were asking for Nico's entire group of friends. Within the next few weeks of school they would be quite busy, and there was still Percy's healing. After the cast was off they had to start going to physical therapy, plus Percy would have to wear a brace for a while.

In all of his planning Nico was quite surprised when the warm hand of his presumably sleeping boyfriend began rubbing his rear end, cupping it. Nico nearly jumped out of his skin as Percy's laughter echoed around the room. "Perseus!" He hissed, taken to calling him by that when he felt the situation warranted it.

"What're you thinking about so hard?" Percy asked, grinning. He did not relinquish his hold on Nico's butt. He guided the boy to sit down beside him as he propped himself up with little difficulty. His ribs were almost healed, they were surprisingly resilient considering they were really the only bones he had previously never broken; every now and then when he did too much they would hurt but for the most part all he had to really worry about was his leg. Rachel's arm was already in a splint, almost completely mended. Percy didn't think that was very fair, but then again Rachel _would_ be an abnormally fast healer. Her body didn't seem to like the prospect of being un-whole.

"Everything," Nico finally answered. "there's so much to be done, and not a lot of time to do it in, and then we'll be having finals soon, and I've got to get you caught back up on your school work and then there's registering for next year, not to mention our anniversary—" Percy kissed Nico, he kissed him in a way that meant the other boy's lips could only move against his own, making it impossible for Nico to talk any further. What excited Percy the most was probably the fact that when he pulled back Nico looked suddenly very hungry; his eyes full of such raw and unabashed primitive arousal that Percy would have laughed were it not for the fact that Nico didn't like being laughed at. He still chuckled.

"You worry too much," He grinned helping the younger dark haired teen to straddle his hips. Nico leaned down and kissed him again, gently, almost pleadingly. Oh, Percy knew that his boyfriend was just as sexually frustrated as he was considering they had gone almost three months without consummation not to mention the fact that Nico informed Percy that if the injured young man wasn't well enough to pleasure himself than neither would he. It might have been a mistake on Nico's part, but he was still faithful to that promise. The one problem being: they couldn't touch each other without some adverse effects below the waist, so even a peck on the lips nowadays made the blood boil between them.

When Percy deepened the kiss, his fingers fiddling with the buttons on Nico's jeans, it was then that the Italian young man realized what they were doing. "Percy," He tried to pull back, but the hand wrapped around his waist had recovered a lot of its strength. "Percy, we can't," The laugh in his ear was low, almost mocking.

"We'll be careful," Percy grinned, he hadn't gotten any alone time with Nico since school had started back. It seemed like they always had visitor, and yes, while they both enjoyed spending time with their friends, and they understood that everyone was worried about them Percy was beginning to think the entourage had set up some sort of schedule to cockblock him. Not today.

Nico's pants fell around his thighs and Percy rubbed the smooth skin that was there. From the jutting hipbone to around the most rotund part of his backside. Nico had been wearing down in his resolve to deny Percy sex so that the injured young man could get better. With everything so utterly blasé now there wasn't a lot that could distract Percy from his need to touch Nico. Well, there was homework…but that didn't count. He worked Nico's pants the rest of the way off.

" _Percy_ ," Nico ground out between his teeth, torn between stopping them and sending thanks to the Lord above for the hand that was peeling his underwear down from around his waist. Nico was a good boyfriend, he would like to think, he had Percy's best interests at heart especially when it came to his physical health, but he had needs. Needs that Percy had been exacerbating for about a year now and for them to so suddenly stop being fed, well, he was having sexual withdrawals. It was much like the time before when for an entire day he sat and thought about nothing but Percy, nothing good had been on the television and he had almost leapt to the door when he thought it was his lover come home. But, this time around he had the frustration of Percy being there, but not _being_ there. Yes, he reveled in being held in his arms at night, if he ever lost that feeling Nico was sure to a hundred percent that he would die, but this was a Neolithic desire engrained in the human condition since man had immerged from the ocean upright and bipedal. It was, he realized as Percy's fingers began to part him gently, an addiction. "Per-cy, _ay Dio_ ," He bit Percy's shoulder.

Percy, one. Resolve, zero.

Nico had been thinking about something, something to do with health. He couldn't properly remember as he felt the delicious sensation of Percy's strong digits working their way further inside of him. Nico had…he had class or something, this isn't what he came to do. Lunch! He had come back to check on Percy and to see if he wanted to go on a lunch date, but oh God, how could anyone eat when there was sex to be had? Nico felt Percy's other hand wrap around his front, gripping onto his weeping and hardened appendage. It had been so long since he had been touched down there by himself, let alone anyone else. He squeezed his eyes shut, "Don't cum yet," Percy instructed huskily in his ear.

A part of Nico, the more coherent part, wondered if Percy had planned this out. His boyfriend knew that if he got too close Nico couldn't think properly, if he kissed him in just the right way he lost the ability to be cohesive. But, the hazy part of his mind, the main part, overrode that particular sense as Percy's fingers were up to the knuckle and his prick was being rapidly tugged up and down, up and down, his own precum the lubrication. "Per-cy…" He breathed heavily, trying desperately to contain that prickling, tingling feeling that was his climax washing around in his belly. "We…shouldn't,"

Well, that was redundant. Percy knew they shouldn't. He knew they shouldn't and he didn't care; if Nico asked later on he would say that doing this sort of thing helped him focus his mind. That sounded pretty legit. Or, maybe it didn't, at the moment he didn't care. He stretched Nico widely, stretched his puckered, star shaped entranced as if the routine were the most arousing thing in the world and in truth he believed it was. He loved hearing his name whispered so delicately, he loved how Nico got when they were like this. That little face he made, eyes screwed shut, delicious pink mouth halfway open, tongue working for words but his voice too weak to do anything but moan. Oh, if he were at his physical peak there would be a plethora of positions from which he took his young lover but as it was Percy could hardly keep his breathing down enough so that his ribs didn't throb from the effort.

It was probably time for another pain killer, but Percy couldn't be bothered, he used the pain and turned it easily over to pleasure. His ribs weren't the only things that were throbbing, "Unbutton my pants," Percy commanded, Nico did it reverently pulling not only his pants but his underwear down slowly and with care. He looked down at the erection and then back up at Percy and finally down again and Percy grinned, nodding. Nico leaned forward, rear end presented up in the air, and he licked the very tip of Percy's bulbous headed manhood right between the slit. Percy tried to command his breathing, to shallow it out as his sides were hurting now, but he just laid his head back while still working his fingers around. Avarice spiked its way into Nico suddenly, he swallowed his boyfriend down in two goes, his tongue wrapping around the thick shaft. Nico's nose was filled with Percy's scent as he pressed his face into his boyfriend's middle, his body was warmed by his touch, his ears filled with Percy's guttural moans and forceful whispers, the ecstasy he knew well that would have been on Percy's face was engraved behind his eyes lids, and his mouth was full of the sweetest taste he would ever know. All five of Nico's senses were satiated by Percy in some facet, but, he realized that was how it had always been. Every single day that he had known him. "Suck harder,"

That was all Nico needed to hear whispered so painstakingly in his ear, he did and Percy cried out. It seemed like when he was pleasuring Percy it was doubled for himself, maybe it was wrong that the very thought of getting Percy off got him off in hindsight, but Nico was young and in love and if it was wrong he did not want to ever be right. He felt Percy's other hand, the one that had been so expertly wanking him, grip onto the base of his skull. Percy pushed Nico down past his gag point and Nico swallowed at the same time. His throat was full, his mouth the same, and for a good long moment he could feel Percy's manhood quiver with delight. Silently the young Italian teen hummed, vibrating his throat and he looked up to see Percy's eyes squeezed together. The older young man pulled his fingers out and gripped Nico by his lengthy black hair yanking him unmercifully off of him.

Nico yelped and the more athletic teen smiled crushing their lips together. Inside Percy cursed himself for not being better, he wanted to do so many things to the boy shaking from the very thought of being filled by him. Two notebooks full of things, in fact. Notebooks that sat proudly against his computer, but that were much too far away for him to really want to retrieve, especially with Nico so hungrily sucking on his mouth now. "Percy, God, I love you," Nico kissed his cheek, his neck, his clavicle, anywhere he could get his lips around. He hadn't known love could be such a disease, it made him sick with want and need.

Percy was entertained thoroughly by his boyfriend; Nico seemed like a fiend for him and while he understood how the other boy felt it always boosted his already rather impressive sexual ego. "Nico," He said as he sat back and watched the young man lick and suckle his erection again. "do you want it yet?" The boy's dark eyes were full of lust as he looked up and Percy knew then that Nico couldn't recall any previous plans he had, he knew his boyfriend's mind was cloudy and jumbled and that there was only one real thing that would do anything to alleviate him of his afflictions.

" _Yes_ ," Nico groaned, pressing himself hard against Percy and causing the, although entertained, still injured teen to hiss and wince. Percy also had to remember that Nico was not a gentle lover when he got like this, when Percy pushed him past sanity and into that pool of pure physical energy that drove him to do and say things he otherwise never would. Smiling painfully he grabbed Nico's face again pulling him away from the tantalizing fellatio and kissing him fully on the lips. His other hand gripped Nico's hips, settling them over his own lap.

"Do it yourself," The lighter brunet smirked, almost laughing but keeping it in check. He shouldn't have been so devious when he was in bed with Nico but there was something almost…almost erotic in and of itself about it. It was just one of the games they played. Percy put both hands behind his head as he leaned against the headboard, his arms bent at the elbow and he just grinned as Nico gripped him. The boy sat up on his knees as he adjusted Percy's length, positioning the rock hardness so that he could sit directly on it. Percy tried not to buck up as his boyfriend's warm inviting hole pulled him in. He really hadn't expected it to be that easy, hadn't expected Nico to be so open. Normally Nico took direction well, yes, but today he seemed especially into it; almost in a trance, as if the whole situation was life and death. There were no funny quips, no annoyed, albeit allowing stares; he was really into it too while Percy had simply been playing around.

This, he realized, was not just another hot and heavy experience between them. Nico wanted to make love, his actions said that much, he probably wanted chaste and sweet kisses; he probably wanted to do everything Percy asked for with reckless abandon and more, probably wanted to be held close and whispered lovingly to. The older teen smiled softly at that and gripped Nico's chin pulling him forward for one of those sweet kisses. Simultaneously he felt Nico push his hips down, twisting and grinding and receiving Percy's full girth. "Fucking fuck!" Nico whimpered, his eyes screwed shut as sweat was beading down his forehead. The familiar hotness of their intermingling body heats was, at first, almost too much for either young man to handle but each endured as long as the other did. Nico rose, lifting himself just slightly up on his arms, and then dropped back down creating the sound of flesh on flesh. He did it again, his arms shaking with tremors of pleasure, and the second time around he couldn't keep quiet. " _Per_ - _cy, fuck me_!" Over the year Percy had learned enough Italian to understand that particular phrase.

" _Is that what you want_?" Percy asked in Nico's family's native language, he had learned a few phrases and words from Nico's grandparents. They had been innocuous when he asked to learn them, but he didn't use them as innocently as he had led the older couple to believe he would. Nico, of course, was not privy to Percy's new found lingual skills as he had not gotten to use them just yet. He had been saving it for their anniversary, but now—after everything that had happened—seemed to be the best time to do it. Besides, he would pull out the big guns in the next few weeks to come when they could finally celebrate being together for one full year. Nico nearly melted, Percy was sure, as his body grew incredibly hotter. Percy thought that perhaps he had been unconsciously training Nico's body to crave sex because the dark, at time sarcastic, teen was in euphoria.

"God, yes," He finally answered, slamming his hips down again. Percy shuddered, then he took a deep breath and held it. He gripped onto Nico's sides and switched their positions around; in a show of dexterity and will power he found himself kneeling behind the boy who was now facing forward on all fours. He breathed deeply, resting his forehead on Nico's burning and arching back. He might have overdone it; he couldn't remember ever breathing so hard, even with the miles he tried to run during the morning. He rested for a moment and if he were ever going to pick a time there was not one as opportune for his shaft was pressing obtrusively against Nico's prostate causing the boy to grip the bed sheets for dear life and scream without breath or intelligent word.

Using his boyfriend's back for support Percy pushed himself up so that he was on his knees with his own back straight, he gripped onto the boy's side and brought their bodies together, in and out, in and out he worked fastidiously, in an almost overzealous fashion as if he were going to make up for the days they had missed being together all in one hour. Nico's arms gave out and he fell forward, his teeth were settled decidedly around Percy's favorite pillow and he bit it for dear life as his prostate underwent a tear jerking plunder. He moaned around it, squaring his hips to meet every thrust Percy sent his way. He was close; if he leaked anymore precum the sheet would have been fully drenched. Nico brought his fallen arm underneath himself and gripped onto his own hardened prick jerking on it with abandon.

Percy moaned, but Percy's moans were low and savage sounds. "So tight, Nico," He whispered, licking and nipping and biting and sucking any salty-sweet flesh his back would let him bend forward to. He hammered on, pulverizingly, and Nico's voice broke as he wailed in an uncharacteristic high pitched fashion.

It was all he could take; Nico's resolve and his body failed him. He came hard, it shot forward out of him with so much tenacity that his entire inner network clenched for salvation. Percy was caught off guard by Nico's climax, the boy's mouth was so full of pillow that he hadn't even had the chance to announce it—though Nico knew that his voice would have failed him too and he would have made the most embarrassing grunt of pleasure that was possible. Percy faltered in his stroke for only a few seconds, overcome by Nico's increased tightness, but he found his step again quickly. He pumped forward still causing tears to run down out of Nico's eyes and more calls to the Lord God above to have been blasphemed out of his mouth. "Goddamn it, Percy!" He yelled and then surprisingly, embarrassingly, he came again just as much as he previously had with just as much, if not more, force.

Percy ground his teeth together; he couldn't take a second wave of Nico's impossibly tight clenching. He thrust his hips forward once, then another time, and halfway through the third he shot his hot seed deep into Nico's awaiting insides. He came for a long time, or at least, longer than he could remember having ever cum for; it was a feeling that ebbed and flowed in every last nerve ending throughout his body. He was milked completely dry, his mouth hanging open and his arms falling to his sides. Percy was, for lack of a better word, spent. Exhausted both physically and mentally. He pulled out of Nico only to thrust once back inside, causing the boy to yelp loudly, pleasurably, then he fell to the side of the bed.

Yup, Percy decided, he had overdone it. He could hear the blood pounding in his ears and with every breath he took it sent a spike of pain into his mind, but that feeling warred with the release of chemicals that burned throughout his body upon—and then residually after—climax. Percy couldn't move, his broken leg hurt, his ribs hurt, hell all of his bruises new and old hurt, his entire body pounded with the beating of his heart, but he was smiling from ear to ear. Percy thought that if he was ever going to die he would want it to be right after intercourse.

Nico's head popped up, "Oh, God!" He cried, alarmed.

"We're not even doing it anymore," Percy laughed though it only added to his pain factor, Nico tossed him a dark look, his eyes clear again.

"No, you douchebag, I just remembered what I came in here for!" Then the younger teen fell forward again. "I was going to take you to lunch," He said turning to look at the clock on the nightstand. "And I had a class to get to, an hour and a half ago."

"You're done early for today, then," Percy grinned. Nico tried to sit up but his back spasmed.

"You could have been easier on me," He growled feeling Percy's residue leak slightly out of him, he had to go do something about that. "And you came inside,"

"Sorry," Percy laughed again. "I got caught up in the moment; it was good for you though, yeah?" Nico's expression was not one of someone who had not just had the best sex of his life, it was of someone who hated to be asked rhetorical questions. Then his face softened and he smiled.

"Yes, you big jerk, it was good for me, but I've missed the majority of my class now and my back hurts," He laid his head against Percy's chest.

"Take one of my pain pills," Was the reply, "and while you're over there get me one. I really, really need it." Spasming back or not Nico sat up immediately; he looked down into Percy's face to see that just underneath the afterglow of his conquest Percy did look to be in a huge amount of pain. Wincing Nico stood up, first he had to rid himself of the products of their lovemaking, then he could take care of Percy. Quickly he made his way to the bathroom to do just that. When he emerged not a minute later he was massaging his lower back as best he could then he grabbed his boyfriend two pills and a bottle of water.

"Here," Nico helped Percy sit up with difficulty. Percy took the medication and gulped down half the bottle of water, leaving the rest for Nico to sip slowly.

"You and me?" The older teen grinned painfully after he swallowed it all, "we're beasts, that should be illegal in at least three states."

"Shut up, Perseus," Nico settled beside his boyfriend, trying to put it out of his head how his mind was still reeling and how he could still feel Percy moving in and out of him if he concentrated hard enough, phantom pleasure.

"Nicky," That was a new development as well; Percy had taken only calling Nico "Nicky" if he wanted something. Hades wasn't fond of it, but he didn't say anything else about it. Nico looked up into Percy's smiling face, then he leaned up and kissed him. "How'd you know that's what I wanted?"

"Because you can't move, otherwise you would have had me pinned against the headboard for round two by now," Nico replied, taking another swig of water. "It's probably for the best, I don't think I'm up for another go, I'm worn out," Percy just laughed.

"Well, if you're not completely ready yet do you think you could take care of that?" He motioned to his newest erection. "With your hands this time," Nico rolled his eyes.

"I swear…" Started but he reached over and grasped Percy between his fist. "better be the last time today," He grumbled. "Woke a sleeping giant," He continued to complain, but Percy saw that look of hunger slowly working its way back into Nico's eyes as he stroked him. It was going to be a rather long and productive night when his pain meds kicked in.

* * *

Triton sat against the night sky, his roach-clip burning brightly as the smoke effervesced thick and languidly around him. All the weed in the world couldn't help him though; his eyes were glossed over and red and his head still hurt regardless of the joint, and normally it was bomb stuff. There were things that Triton had to do, things he didn't want to do but that he knew as a man he was absolutely bound to.

He took two long hits and tossed what was left of the joint into the street where he watched it get snuffed out by the passing cars. From where he stood he could see his brother's university, everything was so calm in the final dregs of Winter and the oncoming of Spring. Tony remembered that day like it had just happened, the day his father had gotten carted off by the Feds and taken away for a very long time, the day Percy had won. He sighed, pulling another cigarillo wrap out of his pocket and lining it with marijuana, licking it and sealing it he set his clip around it and lit up. Exhaling he closed his eyes, it was funny really, for so long he had been so jealous of everything he thought Percy had he'd forgotten to take stock of everything he had himself.

His roach's cherry tip was an angry dot in the still cold February air. "You spoken to him?" Tony cut his eyes over to the soft voice that broke in the night air. It was Calypso, she was standing a good fifteen feet away from him but he could make out her small, curvy form in the moonlight. He gave her a minute, intoxicated smile.

"I don't want to talk to him," Triton said. "I'm not going to," He smoked.

"Then what are you going to do?" She could smell the drug where she stood, it wasn't her favorite smell in the world but she'd smelled worse, not much worse mind you. It was dank and herbal and smelled almost as if it were decomposing.

"I'm going to turn myself in and rot in prison till they let me out, then I'm going to go back to school and live the rest of my life," He said calmly. "You want some of this?"

"No, thank you," Callie didn't want to come any closer to Triton than she had to. She looked back at the school.

"What are you going to do? You almost ruined their lives,"

" _We_ almost ruined their lives," She replied hugging her arms around her to stave off the cold. "I don't know. I want to apologize but Nico almost ripped my head off last time I saw him," She chuckled to herself, running her hands through her hair remembering how much it hurt when she had been on the opposite end of Nico's ire.

"Sucks," Triton said, blowing smoke out of his nostrils and mouth at the same time.

"I really just wanted to tell you something before I went and tried to make amends with them." Tony stared up at her with glazed and uncaring eyes.

"What's that, princess?"

"You are the worst person I know," Triton shrugged, a smile on his lips as he finished off another joint, flicking it out onto the street. "I hate you for everything you did to me and what you made me do, you're a jackass and I hope you die a slow and painful death,"

He stood languidly, "Feel better?"

"No," Calypso shook her head. "because I know I'm no better than you are," Passing her Triton only looked over his shoulder once, his face betrayed just how hurt he really was, physically and emotionally, his nose was still quite broken as it sat splinted against his face and he blew more smoke through his nostrils.

"Just as long as you realize that, babe," Then he walked away, not interested in apologizing anymore. He was the bad guy, and bad guys never got happy endings. Calypso watched him go wearily then she sighed. It was now or never or else she might lose her nerve. Walking towards the university she and Triton parted ways for the last time.


	41. Chapter 41

Forgiveness. Forgiveness is an easy word to say, spell, and define; however, easy as it is to do those things it is equally difficult to do. To forgive, that is. Forgiveness is saying that for all that dumb, stupid shit you did I completely and wholeheartedly don't care about it anymore and will no longer hold you accountable for your actions. People really rarely actually forgive another person, partially perhaps but not in the truest sense of the word. There is always that nagging at the back of one's mind reminding you of what this person did that incited your anger, your sadness, your hurt, your pain. Forgiveness is difficult, a lot of the times it is near impossible because it is not in the mortal design to forgive. We are adaptive, we move on, perhaps, but we never truly can forget past wrongs without feeling ghosts of those emotions that drove us to being so irate in the first place.

Forgiveness for Nico came at a price, if he forgave Calypso he was saying that he knew she had been trying to break up the best thing that had ever happened to him, and knowing that she had been almost successful made his stomach clench in both anger and disgust. Forgiveness for Percy was even more expensive. It meant that everything that had happened to him, from his Dad conspiring against him to him being crushed in his car, would be basically invalid. Percy was not a man to hold a grudge but that was asking a lot of him. To forgive. Really it was asking a lot of anyone because emotions, no matter how irrational at times, are heavy and complex things. Emotions are weapons, they are both offensive and defensive and at the same time they are also weaknesses. To have his weaknesses seen by everyone and then to be asked to say it was okay was almost too much for either young man as Callie sat in their dorm looking even more morose than Hades on a bad day.

"There is nothing I can say to express how truly sorry I am," She said, her eyes were full of tears. "What I did to you was wrong, unjust, and I should be locked away for the rest of my life for it. I won't ask you to forgive me; I just want you to know that from the very depths of my soul I apologize." Her eyes switched between Percy and Nico who were sitting on the small couch opposite of her.

Percy was the first one to speak, "You're right," He said. "It was wrong, and it was cruel," She looked even more hurt when he said that, as if she had been deeply wounded by the truth. "But," He continued. "I understand why you did it; I'll never be able to say that it was okay but I _can_ say that you were most likely brainwashed by my Dad into thinking what you were doing wasn't so bad." As Percy spoke Calypso couldn't help but have her eyes anchored on his darker haired counterpart. Nico's glare was nearly burning a hole into her, she had seen him at his angriest but his silence was far more frightening than him pulling out her hair. His silence belayed every fiber of his deep hatred for her and almost all things Poseidon related. In what he didn't say she heard every word he wanted to say. "Not speaking for Nico I believe you really are sorry," Percy squeezed his boyfriend's hand. "I can't ever trust you again, and I really would prefer it if you never spoke to me, or to any of my friends, but, circumstances what they are, I forgive you." Calypso's eyes gushed anew with tears of happiness; she had been nearly to the point of groveling and this was all she had ever asked for. For almost twenty minutes she had been going on about how she couldn't eat or sleep or function properly knowing that she had almost ruined their lives and it was really very true, she hadn't done any of those things in a long while. It had taken quite a bit more talking to get Percy to let Nico allow her to come into their room. The moon was now sufficiently over head she had been in there so long. "Babe?" Percy asked Nico.

The dark haired youth sighed and with it the universe let out a breath it hadn't realized it was holding. Nico's nearly midnight, and very unreadable, eyes did not soften. The full brunt of his baleful gaze on her was rubbing her raw, she sat uncomfortably on it as the words began to form in his mouth, "You acted like a bitch," He finally decided. Calypso felt something shift and break inside of her from those five words. In reality she had always known Percy would be the kinder one—not that they had any reason to be kind to her—he was just easy going all around as people went, but Nico he was something much more difficult. He was a man who had felt almost every possible emotion under the sun multiplied by his already stark nature and his morbidity and when it came down to it he wasn't sure if he had what it took to actually forgive someone he didn't love for a wrong they had committed towards him.

"I know," Calypso whispered, her voice breaking.

"What's to say all this isn't an act and you just don't want us to be upset with you anymore? Maybe you just want to get off scot free," Of course he didn't believe her. She wouldn't believe herself if she were in his position. Calypso tried to open her mouth to say that it wasn't that but a part of her wondered if it were completely true. She didn't want them to be mad at her anymore; she needed the peace of mind that came along with the freshness of being acquitted. Nothing she thought of could feasibly contest Nico's skepticism. "You're a real piece of work," He continued, he leaned forward. "I lost sleep, didn't eat, I almost did several things I would seriously regret now because I thought you had taken something from me that wasn't yours to take. Percy is my heart and soul, he is the very thing that keeps me breathing and you messed with that."

"I know," She said again in a little voice, God she felt like an ant among giants. Smaller than a speck of particle dust. "I'm sorry," It was all she rightly could say, nothing else was even remotely valid. Nothing else even seemed appropriate coming out of her mouth.

"But," She looked up. "I don't hold you directly responsible for my heartache and pain, you're just a little girl in a bigger scheme of things that none of us will really ever understand. I've never hit a girl before, and that isn't something I'm proud of either," His eyes were ashamed suddenly, "but if ever there was a reason you gave me one." Here he paused for a long moment as if the next words out of his mouth were difficult, "So, since Percy did it and in the spirit of things I'm sorry too," She blinked, caught off guard. Was Nico apologizing to her? For what? She didn't deserve it, her mind was racing suddenly and she had to quiet her thoughts to hear what he said next, "I got caught up in my own emotional rollercoaster, I was jealous of you from the beginning, jealous of how you looked, how easily you caught Percy's eyes, how close you two got and if none of this were real, none of this were planned up I would have been the world's biggest asshole for hating you for no reason." His voice got quiet. "I know what Triton did to you," He said, his eyes reflected her own pain along with sympathy and understanding. "I know you were scared, I know a lot of things that you did happened against your will so what kind of person would I be knowing all this if I didn't say that it was—well, not okay, it's damn sure not okay—but to say that we would survive." He sat back. "I don't forgive your actions, but you; personally, there's no bad blood between us."

For a long moment Calypso didn't know what to say, she didn't have anything _to_ say. She just stared at them wondering where in the world people like Percy and Nico had been created. The only good people she had ever known were her parents, and yet here these two were, furious beyond words at everything that had happened within the past six months to them but they were doing that one impossible thing that humans sometimes had to do. They were letting it go.

As hard as it was it was best for not just themselves but everyone in the long run. Percy and Nico knew that to hold onto anger turned it into bitterness, and bitterness became hatred which normally flowered into violence and malice. Anger was a dangerous thing when it reached critical levels and hard as it was to believe the one thing that could really battle anger was closure. Calypso for them was a means to an end; they wouldn't be dragged into anymore of the bullshit Poseidon had created for them. Their lives had began once again and nothing was going to change that, not even the gods of fate. There was a network of senses connecting them to one another, sight, smell, touch, feel, taste, and sound. Even if every last of those things failed them they had been so irrevocably intertwined that nothing could break what they had become. They had evolved beyond love on sensory levels and were now exploring it on metaphysical levels. Their bodies craved one another, but their minds had a fever for the other's that was far more urgent in its need than anything sexual. They were experiencing first hand something Grover and Juniper, Rachel and Thalia, Annabeth and Luke, Piper and Theseus, and Leo and Jason were just discovering. And that was what made it okay to finally forgive Calypso. She had played a small but important role in Percy's father's scheme of things and it was a step towards even better improvement if they no longer held her in contempt for it.

Finally, after what seemed like a millennia Calypso opened her mouth, "Thank you," She said in a whisper so hoarse it was almost impossible to hear. But they had heard it, there were no smiles, no pity filled glances, no hugs and kisses but Nico inclined his head in the very slightest of nods and Percy's eyes softened immediately. The girl stood, excusing herself, and she went over to the door. Standing there she paused and looked over her shoulder at the boys sitting together on the couch watching her go. "I don't think," She said. "That I will ever find people as amazing as any of you, I pray to whoever's listening up there that you two live happy, successful lives; but that's redundant because I already know you will. You're both incredible, and you're both incredibly right for each other. I don't deserve to find what you have, but if I ever do I'll have known I found it when I see the same look on my face I see when you to look at each other. And since I'll probably never see either of you again I just wanted to say good-bye." She broke into a tear filled smile, "Good-bye and thank you Percy for being the first real friend I ever truly had. I've dealt with fake people for a long time and you were a breath of fresh air. So thank you, it really did mean a lot to me." She wiped her eyes. "Thank you," Then she walked out of the door and closed it behind her walking forward into her own bright future and leaving all the troubles of the past behind.

Nico and Percy sat silently huddled together for another thirty minutes before either one of them chanced moving; there was so much wordless comfort to be found in each other's company. As revelation go it was probably then that they both knew after college was over they would live together, get jobs, have children, and grow old with one another and it wasn't a future either one of them wanted to change.

Not at all.

* * *

"You're free to go kid," Triton looked up; he had been sitting in an eight by ten holding cell twiddling his thumbs. He had not been issued a sentence yet because he was awaiting trial but there was some officer opening his barred door.

"What?" He asked standing up.

"No one's pressing charges against you," The officer said with a shrug. "We need these cells for real criminals, get out of here," Triton wanted to protest, he opened his mouth to say otherwise but he closed it again. He nodded once and walked past the policeman without another word. Once out of the holding area he changed back into the clothes he'd worn before the police put him in the God awful orange jumpsuit. They gave him all of his items he had come in with, his keys, cell phone, and wallet. They even told him he didn't have to pay the fee for his car impound. Triton took a deep breath and he walked out of the police building. They weren't pressing charges against him, what did that mean? He sighed and shook his head, whatever it was he didn't care. He had tried for redemption, he had done the right thing by putting himself away; he had planned on doing his time and sitting and reflecting on where he had been going with his life but now he was free.

Free.

The air outside tasted sweet and he inhaled a lungful of it releasing it from his mouth. Did they think that if they just let him go he would turn over a new leaf automatically? That he would become a better guy right off the bat? Triton closed his eyes and reached into his back pocket discovering a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. He realized after pulling them out that they were the same brand his father smoked. He stared at them for a long moment just remembering. He remembered all the bad times, all the times he had desperately wanted Poseidon to notice him like he noticed Percy, wanted his father to just say he loved him without cutting him down in the next sentence. Triton stared at the cigarettes and remembered the times Poseidon had hit them, all of them. From his youngest brother to most recently Tyson his father had laid his hands on all of them in a way that wasn't meant to teach a valuable lesson, it wasn't a reprimanding way, it was just a spiteful way.

He crumpled the cancerous sticks in his hand and threw them into a street trash can. He took another deep breath, the impound station was half a block away he could hoof it. Triton thought that with his father away his brothers would need someone to watch out for them, not in the way that Poseidon had called himself doing it with the intent to further his own means, no. Tony was going to do it in the way that a father figure was supposed to, to be supportive, to be a role model. He might not have had the money to bring them all together and keep them, but he could go and get his father's finances put in his name. He could sell Jackson Waterworks and a lot of the houses that Poseidon had, all of them but one. Then he could go back to school and finish his business degree, he could start his own company and he could provide for his family the way a man was supposed to.

Triton made his way to the impound station and he got his car out. Then he turned the engine over and drove into a newer, better existence. Triton realized then that the sins of the father were not the sins of the son.

He felt a weight lifted off of his shoulders, he felt the thorny vines that had wrapped and tangled themselves around his heart burn away with the new, fiery, desires to be a better person, he felt his soul become lighter and he knew then that he was really, and truly, free.

Free.

* * *

"Here," Gilliam du Gilliam handed Aaron an expensive camera with a smile, a real, genuine, completely unprofessional smile. It was the kind of smile that a friend gave another friend when it was their birthday or something and Aaron just stared at him. "Take it, after today you're not my apprentice anymore."

"What—did I do something wrong?" Aaron asked with dismay and alarm. Gilliam laughed. It was strange simply because the young photographer had never heard his boss laugh. He wanted to ask if the older, balder man was feeling alright but he left it alone.

"Not in the least," Alexander came sashaying over, and Gilliam put an arm around him. "I'm retiring, Aaron, and I need to leave it all to someone," He was still smiling. "I don't have kids and this isn't the time where I tell you that you're the son I never had, but I think you're an insightful young man who's got a beautiful artistic eye." Aaron stared in disbelief. Gilliam du Gilliam was his idle. He had every single photograph that the man had taken, even a few he had digitally restored from the negatives as the sets had been lost. He felt the prickle of tears suddenly because the man he looked up to the most artistically had just said something like that. It was…it was breathtaking really. He was at a loss for words. "I've been a photographer for thirty years now, thirty long years, and what I see in your work reminds me so much of myself."

For perhaps the first time in his life the young photographer was rendered even more speechless than he had been before, his mind was blank and he just stared at Gilliam who only gave his snarky, but good-natured grin. Even as an older man Gilliam still had an appealing quality to him and Aaron could see why Alexander Keaton had first been attracted to him in their younger days. Then, after he was done stupidly analyzing his favorite photographer and current paycheck signer's face he said, "I—I don't know what to say,"

"Try thank you," Alexander laughed.

"Th-thank you," Aaron looked at the camera in his hands. "Yeah! Thank you!" He grinned like a mad man, wildly and without any care of onlookers.

"Don't thank me just yet, youngster," Gilliam's expression suddenly became the reprimanding gaze that Aaron had come to know quite well. "I'm going to put you through hell to make sure you know what you're doing. I'm not leaving till you're absolutely ready."

Aaron grinned, "Then I hope I'm never ready so you're always around,"

Gilliam tried to hide a second grin and failed, "Kiss ass, you'll go far in the business,"

* * *

After finals were over everyone was released from their individual learning institutions. Percy had passed all his classes, if not by the very skin of his teeth. Rachel and Thalia had taken to studying everyday with Nico, Jason, and Percy till they were all quite ready. Finals were grueling as always, but bearable. At least, no one had pulled their hair out in the process of them. Now they were moving out for the Summer, loading things into everyone's cars.

"Percy! Percy!" Odie was carrying a box full of Nico's clothing. "Sally says I can turn the guest room into any kind of room I want!" He was excited about his new living arrangements, that much was an understatement.

"Is that right, big guy?" Percy asked, sating the boy in the way older teens did for their younger siblings. Not completely uninterested, but barely able to get a word in edgewise. Really he was sulking because everyone was forcing him to sit on the couch.

"Yeah!" Odysseus grinned an adorable sort of smile.

"Puh-sea!" Morpheus was on Persephone's hip. It turned out the boy's mother really did not want him. As soon as she realized that Poseidon was no longer able to pay his hefty child support fees she sent him into foster care without second thought. They couldn't leave him in the care of the state so almost begrudgingly Hades had allowed Persephone to adopt him. That added another Jackson to the impossibly growing ratio and Hades wasn't sure how he felt about that, but like he had said as soon as the boy was in their possession he changed Morpheus' last name to di Angelo. He also wasn't too fond of the boy's nickname. "Philly" didn't sit right with him. Philly was not the name of a successful di Angelo. So now he was known as Murphy and anyone who dared call him otherwise was given a scathing glance from the dark up-and-coming film writer and now bestselling author.

"Hey little man," Percy smiled offhandedly. Not being able to help move boxes was really bothering him; hell, even Rachel was taking small things back and forth. Persephone sat Morpheus down in Percy's lap; the still injured young man took the boy and tickled his sides. Morpheus laughed infectiously. "How're you feeling?"

"Good!" He laughed. "My new Daddy got me this," He held up a stuffed bear, its fur was completely black, its large beady eyes were a warm, chocolate brown and around its neck was a red collar with a golden bell hung from the middle that jingled every time he moved. Hugging the bear to his chest Morpheus grinned like the luckiest child in the world. Percy looked over to Hades who tried to seem interested in packing the photos Nico had decorated their room with, pictures filled with the images of everyone that was helping them move.

"Oh he did, did he?" Percy asked. Hades cast a dark look over his shoulder.

"Stuff it, Percy," Nico turned and looked at his father after those words left his mouth with awe filled eyes, which caused Hades to stare at his son as if he had gone mad. "What?"

"You called him 'Percy' not 'Jackson' or 'Percival' or anything else, you said his name right," Hades cheeks flushed, he turned away and began packing the pictures with gusto. He said nothing else even as Persephone came over and put a hand on his arm, kissing his cheek.

"You're such a good man," She whispered in his ear then he accepted a kiss on the lips from her, a small smile tugged at the sides of his mouth. Jason came back in rubbing his hands together. He and Paul had just put the television away in the car. Jason was glad his room had consisted of very few belongings; maybe it was good that he had been so ill prepared for living away from home because it meant he had less to take back.

"We have finished," He announced comically, placing his hands on his hips and standing with his legs a shoulder with apart. He looked around the now bare room. Sally smiled, she liked Jason. She liked all of Percy's friends really, which was strange because her own girlfriends had assured her when she was carrying him that she would dislike his teenaged friends.

Sally was…she was better. The scars her ex-husband had left in her soul ran deep; such jagged, almost fatal scars. But, with Paul she had found the will to live again and not to just live but to be what she wanted and to become a better mother and wife. She walked over and kissed Percy on the head, then Morpheus, and then Odysseus as they both looked at her with timid expectation. She smiled and patted them and then she stepped out of the way as Paul wheeled in Percy's chair. "I don't need this," He grumbled staring at the metal seat on wheels with disdain.

"You keep pushing yourself too hard, you'll never recover like that," Sally scolded him. "Nico I hold you slightly accountable for his condition, he's supposed to be better by now. What have you boys been doing these past few weeks, wrestling?" Her son opened his mouth and she held her hand over it muffling his words before he could speak. "I know what you've been doing, Perseus, it was rhetorical, please don't explain." Nico had the decency to blush while Percy just grinned from ear to ear.

"Just use the chair, Perce," Nico said, averting his eyes from Sally's. How could he explain that he couldn't help it? Percy had the power to persuade Nico to do just about anything he wanted if he said it in that low, husky voice he used to command him from time to time. "Please?" Begrudgingly Percy climbed into the wheelchair, where upon sitting Murphy immediately wanted to ride with him. He brought the boy into his lap again.

"Can I push him, Paul?" Paul grinned down at Odie and placed a hand on his back.

"Ask Percy, son, he's the one being pushed," The sandy haired professor explained. It was every man's dream to have a kid but now he had two and several others he considered nephews and nieces. Their family had warped and expanded and then grown more beautifully than he could have ever hoped.

"Percy, can I, please?" The one whom all the attention had turned to just shook his head with a smile on his face, a chuckle escaped his lips as the others walked past him with the last of the boxes.

"Sure, big guy," He said, humoring Odie but not-so-secretly loathing having to be wheeled around. His arms worked just fine, but he wouldn't take this away from his little brother.

"Whee!" Murphy giggled as Odysseus began pushing them and Nico closed the door behind them. Thalia came out of Rachel's room after that with a suitcase, she blushed when she saw that she had been caught by Nico and she looked away.

"Moved in with her for the last part of the semester, huh?" He asked as she walked next to him.

"I had to," Thalia said, her cheeks still slightly flushed. "she's an addiction,"

"I'm sure," Nico grinned. "Well, you're a welcome addition to our dynamic,"

"Just what you guys needed, right?" She winked at him and he laughed.

"Truer words have never been spoken," They dropped of their keys at the front desk.

* * *

Everyone drove back to Blofis house where Sally and Persephone set to preparing an end-of-the-school-year party, Hades and Paul were outside on the grill. Rachel and Thalia found themselves carted off to the kitchen, though they followed behind Sally without protest and Jason left to go retrieve Leo and his mother from their workshop. Percy sat outside staring at the grill as if it would will him up so he could help his Stepdad flip the meat and Nico was entertaining the children with a game of Mario Party on the Wii.

"Hello?"

"Grover!" Nico laughed as the tall teen and Juniper came into the house. "Juniper, hi," He grinned, he was losing to an eleven year old and a five year old.

"Getting your butt kicked it looks like," Grover smiled as he hugged Nico, Juniper came up and kissed his cheek.

"Hi, Nico, where're the girls?" He pointed towards the kitchen and she was off. Grover watched her go and Nico saw his eyes roaming lovingly over his girlfriend's body for a moment, then he blinked and turned away.

"Where's your better half?" The smaller dark haired teen rolled his eyes and pointed in the same direction.

"Outside on the patio," He said. "They're grilling," Nico looked up to see a man and woman come in. The woman he recognized as Julia, Grover's mother, and the man—while a few years younger than her—must have been her brother Ferdinand. Behind him was a taller version of Grover, if you could believe that. Joaquin, Grover's cousin, was quite handsome with his dark curls and his hazel green eyes. It was no secret that Grover's uncle had struggled for years with his sexuality, he had even fathered a child under pretense of engagement to a pretty blonde woman from New Brunswick, but that had fallen through and he had been outed. That was going on nearly twenty-three years ago now though.

"Nico, hello," Julia smiled at him and absently patted him on the head. Nico made formal introductions and shook hands with Ferdinand and Joaquin and then they and Julia followed Grover to where everyone else was gathering. Nico turned back to the screen only to see that his points had dropped considerably since he hadn't been paying attention.

"Hey!" He said to the two young boys around him who were laughing. "Guys could've paused it for me," He grumbled.

"Will you be sitting at the kiddie table as well?" He turned, Annabeth was coming into the doorway next, her mother in tow as was her boyfriend. "Hi, Neeks," She smiled from ear to ear; she looked stunning in her simple graphic tee-shirt and jeggings combo.

"Hey," He put the controller down and went over to her, hugging her. "You look great,"

"Thanks," She smiled. "You too," Nico looked down at his ratty shirt, rugged jeans, and dirty sneakers and turned a disbelieving eye on her. She just laughed. "You do," Luke cleared his throat and Nico let go of Annabeth with a smile.

"I don't get a hug?" He asked and Nico laughed. Quickly, and in the way of guys, they hugged. Patting each other on the back twice and stepping back. "Good to see you again, dude,"

"You too," Nico smile. "Everyone's either in the kitchen or on the back patio," Athena tossed him a breathtaking, and intelligent smirk and made her way to the kitchen but the younger blonde girl and her boyfriend didn't move an inch.

"No, no," Annabeth grinned. "We wanna kick your butt at some Mario," And so the day continued on, good cheer and merriment decorating the air just as well as waning pink sunlight and warm Summer breezes. When the group sat together on the extended table in the backyard Percy gripped Nico's hand smiling at him.

"Guess what I just realized?" He said in a low whisper.

"What's that?" Nico asked, leaning his shoulder against Percy's arm.

"Our anniversary is set on the same date we're going to visit your Grandparents," Nico looked at him. "Think you can help me bone up on my Italian?" The younger teen kissed him.

"Of course," He smiled handsomely.

"Then…do you think you can help me bone up in general, too?" Percy grinned wickedly, Nico chuckled.

"I think you can bone up by yourself," He replied. "But I might just help you, after everyone's gone," They kissed again.

"Hey! You two take it easy, I'm not taking Percy back to the hospital if he gets a hernia or something," Sally called from the other end of the table causing all the inhabitants to laugh loudly.

If you would have told Nico a year ago that he would have everything he ever wanted and more someday he would have told you that you were crazy and probably would have had a few choice words for you. But, as he looked around at the large number of smiling faces, family and friend, a warm feeling settled into his stomach. He did, in fact, have everything he could have ever wanted and more.

So much more.

**End**.


End file.
